UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 
BULLETIN 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 

Prepared  by 

JOSEPH  ERNEST  McAFEE 
Community  Counselor 
EXTENSION  DIVISION, 
Department  of  Public  Information  and  Welfare, 

J.  W.  SCROGGS. 

Director. 


"»  waar  a?  m 

APS  12  ,523 


WiV&tojy 


ILLJNO I 


Issued  Semi-Monthly  By 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 
Norman,  Oklahoma 


FOREWORD 

This  pamphlet  seeks  to  serve  several  purposes. 

It  emphasizes  the  aim  and  ideals  of  the  University  of  Oklahoma 
in  its  outreach  to  the  whole  community  life  of  the  state. 

It  will  be  useful  as  a manual  for  those  who  are  conscious  of 
the  new  and  rapidly  unfolding  obligations  of  citizenship,  and  who 
wish  some  gui^e  and  stimulus  to  their  thought. 

It  will  be  suggestive  to  members  of  newly  formd  community 
councils,  or  other  civic  organizations  aiming  at  comprehending 
under  one  program  the  multiform  and  now  too  often  unrelated 
activities,  upon  whose  harmony  and  efficiency  the  health  and  pros- 
perity of  the  community  depend. 

It  will  lay  a basis  for  much  more  worthy  publications  in  the 
future,  covering  the  same  and  related  topics  more  intelligently. 

Each  reader  is  askt  to  help  in  revising  this  pamphlet.  It  is 
intended  only  as  a ground-breaker.  It  omits  more  than  it  contains. 
It  approaches  many  an  important  question  from  a single  point  of 
view  where  there  prevail  .among  thoughtful  citizens  many  points  of 
view.  It  fails  of  its  purpose  where  it  may  even  seem  to  be  dogmatic. 
Your  point  of  view  is  just  as  much  entitld  to  consideration  as  is 
that  to  a different  effect  presented  anywhere  in  the  bulletin. 

Its  best  service  will  be  thus  renderd  in  furnishing  a basis 
of  common  counsel.  Here  on  the  first  page  is  set  forth  the  request 
constantly  repeated  on  later  pages,  that  you  write  to  the  Extension 
Division  of  the  University  about  any  phase  or  problem  of  your  com- 
munity life  where  your  experience  may  be  helpful  to  other  com- 
munities, or  where  the  experience  of  others  may  prove  helpful  to 
you.  Make  the  University  a clearing-house  of  information,  and  use 
it  in  the  fulfilment  of  its  ideal  of  universal  service. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


t 

1 


•*'  The  University 

The  University  of  Oklahoma  aspires  to  be  true  to  its  name, 
and  render  a universal  service,  to  the  population  of  the  state,  espec- 
ially thru  the  Extension  Division;  it  is  quite  as  deeply  interested 
in  adult  education  as  in  the  more  conventional  methods  providing 
for  the  training  of  the  young. 

Ideally,  education  is  to  be  conceivd  as  a process  beginning  with 
the  cradle  and  ending  only  with  the  grave.  Our  minds  must  con- 
tinue to  expand  or  they  will  certainly  contract.  The  mental  health 
of  each  individual  requires  that  his  education  shall  be  uninterrupted 
to  the.  end  of  his  life.  Tho  the  methods  may  be  radically  alterd 
f when  he  passes  from  the  tutelage  of  the  formal  schools,  there 

should  be  no  break  in  the  program  by  which  he  advances  to  ever- 
deepening  satisfaction-  in  his  personal  acquirements  and  ever-widen- 
ing  usefulness  in  society. 

) This  demand  is  enormously  emphasized  by  the  present-day  de- 
mands of  our  American  democracy.  One  of  the  most  vital  move- 
ments of  our  history  is  now  concentrating  attention  upon  the 
community  as  the  source  of  our  democratic  inspirations,  and  the 
c Q test  of  our  democracy’s  success.  We  must  win  here  or  lose  all 
. along  the  l’ne.  An  intelligent  citizenship  is  an  absolute  condition 
° precedent  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  destinies  which  our  history  and 
- recent  enlarged  responsibilities  for  world  destiny  have  markt  out 
for  us. 

Our  educational  program  must  be  more  thoro  and  reach  farther 
than  we  have  heretofore  conceived  it.  It  must  indeed  be  universal 
and  un’nterrupted.  Youth  alone  is  not  the  season  of  learning.  He 
• who  does  not  keep  pace  with  our  rapid’y-moving  civilization  by  new 
■{^learning  every  day  and  every  year,  falls  hopelessly  behind,  and  re- 
« tards  rather  than  advances  the  progress  of  the  whole. 

COMMUNITY  INSTITUTES 
, Special  Bulletin 

A separate  bulletin  is  publish!  by  the  Extension  Division  of  the 
- University,  setting  forth  this  program.  The  Institutes  have  met 

with  success  surpassing  expectations.  While  the  resources  now 
t , . available  seriously  limit  the  development  of  the  plan,  yet  no  com- 

>>  w munity  in  the  state  should  fail  to  investigate,  read  carefully  the 

ri 

XL  ' 

< t 

<s 


4 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


literature,  and,  if  possible,  avail  itself  of  the  benefits  of  an  Institute. 

The  Institutes  are  under  the  management  of  a staff  of  ten  or 
more  specialists.  The  actual  sessions  cover  three  evenings  and 
two  full  days.  Certain  members  of  the  staff  visit  the  community 
where  an  Institute  is  to  be  held,  in  advance  of  the  date  set,  and 
assist  local  committees  in  arranging  details.  The  remaining  mem- 
bers of  the  staff  join  in  the  leadership  of  the  Institute  proper. 

Range  of  Subjects  Considered 

The  program  covers,  by  suggestion  and  implication,  every  phase 
of  social  life,  and  deals  directly  with  those  practical  problems  which 
the  community  may  be  at  the  time  best  prepared  to  solve. 

The  departments  of  the  Institute  include  the  following: 

Public  Health,  with  special  emphasis  upon  the  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  school 'pupils ; 

Domestic  Relations,  especially  the  status  of  husband  and  wife 
and  the  rearing  of  children  in  the  home; 

Organized  Recreation  and  Community  Music,  seeking  to  im- 
part practical  methods  and  to  inspire  a comprehensive  program  for 
the  whole  community; 

Educational  Aims  and  Policies,  with  emphasis  upon  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  whole  citizenship  for  the  schools,  as  well  as  those 
of  school  boards,  superintendents,  principals,  and  teachers ; 

Business  Relations,  dealing  with  the  personal  and  practical  prob- 
lems of  the  individual  merchant,  manufacturer,  employer  and  em- 
ploye, and  also  with  the  stake  of  the  whole  community  in  its  eco- 
nomic program ; 

Community  Organization,  embracing  all  kinds  of  public,  semi- 
public  and  voluntary  institutions  thru  which  the  common  life  is 
exprest ; 

Relations  of  town  and  country  and  problems  of  rural  sociology 
and  economies. 

The  principles  underlying  this  plan  are  vital  and  apply  to  every 
community.  They  should  be  studied  by  all,  however  difficult  or  im- 
possible it  may  be  actually  to  set  up  a formal  Community  Institute. 
The  limited  force  and  resources  at  the  command  of  the  University 
will  be  made  to  go  as  far  as  they  will,  and  yours  may  be  one  of 
the  communities  in  a position  most  to  profit  by  an  Institute.  Send 
to  the  Extension  Division  of  the  University  for  the  literature. 

Aim  of  Institutes 

These  Institutes  are  designed  to  serve  as  ground-breakers. 
They  arouse  communities  to  the  sense  of  citizenship.  They  start 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


things.  They  bring  order  out  of  the  confusion  which  has  often  pre- 
vaild  even  in  communities  zealous  to  move  forward.  They  reveal 
the  next  step.  They  break  the  deadlock  which  often  exists  between 
equal  and  opposing  factions.  They  reconcile  conflicting  interests  and 
contending  leaders.  They  oil  the  machinery  of  progress,  and  fill 
discouraged  communities  with  hope. 

But  they  also  reveal  the  largeness  and  delicacy  of  the  community 
problems.  The  show  that  what  the  community  hopes  to  achieve 
requires  new  methods,  sometimes  new  types  of  organization,  and 
not  infrequently  the  setting  aside  of  methods  and  organizations 
which  have  outlived  their  usefulness. 

In  short,  the  Institutes  are  the  first  step.  No  community  can 
afford  to  stop  with  the  Institute,  and  none  in  which  the  Institute 
has  fulfild  its  design  will  be  content  to  stop  with  it. 

After  and  Beyond  the  Institute 

Furthermore,  numerous  communities  are,  due  to  other  influ- 
ences, thoroly  arousd  to  community  needs,  and  are  struggling  with 
one  or  another  of  the  manifold  problems  upon  whose  solution  suc- 
cessful democracy  depends.  Every  consideration  conspires  to  com- 
pel the  University  to  expand  its  extension  work,  and  aim  at  a more 
comprehensive  community  service.  This  bulletin  is  issued  in  pur- 
suance of  this  call. 

EACH  COMMUNITY  UNIQUE 

The  ideal  plan  for  each  community  is  that  immediately  suited 
to  its  needs.  There  are  no  rigid  models  which  can  be  universally 
followd  in  detail.  A move  of  manifest  timeliness  in  one  com- 
munity may  be  altogether  ill-advised  in  a neighboring  community. 
An  institution  or  organization  which  is  a veritable  life-saver  in  one 
instance  may  be  useless  and  a positive  detriment  to  the  well-being 
of  a society  differently  situated. 

Of  all  this  the  University  is  thoroly  conscious.  Actual  experi- 
ence in  community  work  has  safeguarded  the  University  staff 
against  sure-cure  nostrums  and  infallible  programs,  if  reason  and 
ordinary  good  sense  have  not  been  effectual.  It  is  not  absolutely 
certain  that  any  community  needs  just  the  kind  of  organization 
which  the  others  find  essential,  even  tho  it  be  designed  to  meet  a 
universal  need.  There  are  several  different  kinds  of  public  library, 
for  example,  and  numerous  plans  of  operating  a library.  Every 
community  needs  a library  of  some  sort,  but  there  are  no  absolutely 
universal  methods  of  securing  one  and  conducting  it  with  effici- 
ency. 


6 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA’ 


Every  community  should  have  some  program  of  mobilizing  in 
the  common  service  the  entire  citizenship,  but  various  methods  and 
organizations  thru  which  this  is  accomplisht  have  been  found  suc- 
cessful, and  again  and  again  the  successful  method  of  one  com- 
munity has  broken  down  utterly  in  another. 

Keep  the  great  universal  needs  clearly  in  view,  therefore,  and 
in  the  devising  of  means  and  measures,  practice  that  God-given 
ingenuity  without  which  any  community  must  finally  despair. 

COMMUNITY  COUNCIL 

Following  each  Institute  conducted  by  the  University  staff,  a 
Community  Council  of  a certain  type  is  recommended,  and  has  been 
uniformly  organized.  There  are  already  several  different  kinds 
of  organizations  going  by  this  name  in  different  sections  of  the 
United  States.  Some  of  them  are  purely  and  confessed’y  oppor- 
tunistic. An  emergency  arose,  somebody  believed  he  saw  a way  of 
meeting  it,  a group  of  citizens  formd  themselves  into  an  organiza- 
tion to  achieve  this  purpose,  and  have  calld  themselves  a community 
council  by  way  of  emphasizing  the  unselfish  aim  of  their  activities. 

Results  not  Theories 

Back  of  such  moves  there  is  what  many  believe  to  be  a sound 
social  philosophy.  They  believe  that  the  only  effective  way  to 
make  social  progress  is  simply  to  meet  the  emergency  when  it 
arises,  devising  the  machinery  for  the  purpose,  and  making  other 
machinery  for  the  next  task  when  the  next  emergency  arises.  They 
show  by  much  revealing  experience  that  the  mind  of  many  com- 
munities works  in  a manner  to  make  this  the  only  practical  method. 
The  common  run  of  people  are  not  social  philosophers.  The  abstract 
principles  of  community  building  do  not  appeal  to  them  at  all. 
They  only  know  what  they  want  when  they  want  it. 

When  taxes  are  too 'high,  they  wish  to  reduce  them.  When 
a public  officer  is  not  accomplishing  what  they  wish  to  have 
accomplisht,  they  want  to  have  him  out  and  another  in  his  place. 
They  want  good  water  and  clear  light  and  well-paved  streets  and 
security  in  going  about  their  business  and  pleasures,  and  they  do  not 
care  udder . what  type  of  civil  organization  these  results  may  be 
attaind.  What  they  want  is  results. 

This  philosophy  appeals  strongly  to  large  numbers  of  the 
people  in  all  our  communities.  They  los'e  patience  with  those  who 
are  so  zealous  to  do  everything  just  right  that  they  never  get  any- 
thing done.  They  are  ready  to  accept  any  method  or  instrument 
as  the  best  which  does  the  business  and  does  it  right  away. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  7 

Limitations  and  Perils 

Yet  much  painful  experience  is  awakening  many  citizens  to 
the  embarrassments  of  a purely  opportunistic  social  philosophy. 
This  program  has  loaded  our  communities  with  vast  accumula- 
\k  tions  of  out-of-date  machinery  and  affords  means  of  scandalous 

corruption. 

While  disinterested  citizens  'leap  -from  one  enthusiasm  to  anoth- 
er those  who  have  sinister  motives  seize  upon  the  machinery  origin- 
ally set  up  with  such  commendable  purpose,  and  pervert  it  to  their 
own  ends.  It  has  been  abundantly  demonstrated  that  the  more 
complicated  the  social  mechanism  becomes  the  more  readily  it  lends 
itself  to  the  manipulation  of  tricksters  and  self-seekers.  Our  politi- 
cal machinery  is  almost  everywhere  thus  complicated,  and  the 
ease  with  which  the  ingenious  political  boss  gains  and  maintains 
control  fills  the  honest  and  simple-minded  citizen  with  despair. 

Our  society  is  scandalously  clutterd  with  useless  and  worse  than 
use’ess  organizations  and  institutions.  We  create  new  ones  at  a furi- 
ous rate,  and  few  or  none  of  the  old  die.  Once  brought  into  being 
and  given  a degree  of  life  they  appear  to  believe  themselves  en- 
,dowd  with  a sort  of  divine  right.  Having  existed  for  a time 
they  feel  commissiond  to  live  for  all  time.  They  point  with  great 
pride  to  achievements  of  a dist’nguisht  past,  and  thus  justify 
themselves  in  scorning  the  profane  hand  lifted  to  remove  them  as 
now  a useless  encumbrance.  And,  true  to  its  disposition,  an  oppor- 
tunistic public  supports  them  in  their  protests. 

A Sounder  Philosophy 

A cure  for  these  compounded  evils  is  the  devising  of  social  ma- 
chinery more  adaptable  to  varied  and  changing-  needs.  Instead  of 
forming  a brand  new  organization  to  meet  each  emergency  which 
arises,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  set  in  operation  a vital  program  capa- 
ble of  meeting  promptly  each  and  all  ordinary  demands,  old  and 
new. 

This  is  difficult  under  the  best  of  conditions,  and  it  is  quite 
impossible  in  the  case  of  an  unintelligent,  time-serving  citizen- 
ship. Such  a method  requires  a great  deal  of  thinking  ahead.  And 
where  the  citizens  are  unwilling  or  unable  to  think,  of  course,  such 
a plan  will  fail. 

The  type  of  Community  Council  advocated  by  the  Institutes 
is  born  of  the  disposition  to  think  ahead,  and  provide  an  organiza- 
tion which  will  not  need  to  be  abandond  with  the  passing  of  each 
emergency,  and  supplanted  with  an  entirely  new  organization  at 
once  a new  emergency  arises.  Where  any  community  is  not  pre- 
pared for  such  an  organization  it  will  manifestly  not  succeed,  and 


8 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


all  will  agree  that  it  is  unwise  to  force  it  upon  any  unwilling  popula- 
tion. By  all  means,  let  us  seek  eagerly  the  “best  possible”  where 
the  “impossible  best”  is  out  of  the  question. 

Eternal  Vigilance  and  Progress 

For  those  communities  whose  citizens  are  disposed  and  able 
to  think  ahead,  to  keep  their  plans  forming  in  advance  of  the  dire 
necessities  of  today,  the  type,  of  Community  Council  projected  by 
. the  Institute  staff  is  commended..  It  aims  to  provide  the  media  thru 
which  every  new  idea  will  be  tested  and,  if  found  of  value,  will  be 
promptly  incorporated  in  the  community  program.  No  community 
which  operates  the  plan  will  be  caught  napping.  It  will  not  awaken 
some  morning  to  find  its  water  and  light  system  broken  down,  the 
householder  defenceless  against  fire  and  drought,  its  streets  dark 
and  its  treasury  looted  or  empty  thru  default  of  an  inefficient  finan- 
cial system.  It  will  not  be  overwhelmd  by  a scourge  of  disease  or 
a scandal  of  immorality  among  its  young  people.  It  will  be  alert, 
keen  to  discern  the  evil  before  it  grows  to  unmanageable  propor- 
tions, intelligent  to  promote  positive  movements  for  the  physical 
and  spiritual  health  before  insidious  evils  can  get  their  start,  and, 
in,  short,  always  on  the  job. 

Outstanding  Features 

Distinctive  features  of  our  Community  Council  should  be  clear- 
ly set  forth.  In  the  appendix  of  this  bulletin  the  reader  will  find  a 
suggested  constitution.  Details  may  be  greatly  varied  to  suit  local 
conditions.  But  the  principles  on  which  the  organization  is  based 
should  be  clearly  apprehended. 

All  Elements  Represented 

The  numbers  included  in  the  membership  of  the  Council  vary. 
They  have  ranged  so  far  from  twelve  to  thirty.  Perhaps  there 
should  never  be  less  and  never  more  than  these,  tho  there  should 
always  be  a complete  representation  of  the  social  factors  constituting 
the  community.  Wherever  there  is  a recognizable  social  group 
somebody  shouM  be  on  the  Council  who  can  intelligently  think  with 
and  speak  for  them.  And  whenever  a new  group  forms,  the  Council 
should  be  prompt  to  add  some  one  to  reflect  their  ideas  and  ideals 
in  the  common  counsels. 

Yet  this  representation  should  not  be  official.  It  would  violate 
every  sanction  of  this  type  of  Council  to  pack  it  with  attorneys 
for  the  various  organizations  and  social  groups  of  the  community, 
each  eager  to  get  all  he  can  for  his  particular  “set”  or  interest.  The 
central  and  single  aim  of  the  Council  is  to  see  the  interests  of  the 
community  whole,  and  inspire  measures  designd  to  serve  these  whole 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


9 


interests.  Partisanship  is  the  very  frustration  of  all  that  the  Coun- 
cil stands  for,  and  to  convert  the  Council  into  a battle-ground  of 
irreconcilable  or  sly  partisans  is  completely  to  destroy  its  usefulness. 

Its  purpose  will  nevertheless  be  sacrificed  if  some  one  capable 
of  taking  the  view-point  of  each  social  element  is  not  included  in 
the  membership.  A select  group  of  kindly  intentiond,  mild-mannerd, 
colorless  individuals,  will  not  serve.  To  seek  to  forestall  violent 
clashes  of  opinions  by  choosing  as  members  of  the  Council  those 
who  have  no  opinions  at  all  would  be  a fatal  mistake.  The  com- 
munity needs  the  counsels  of  those  of  pronounced  convictions.  Dif- 
ferences are  vital  to  its  health  and  progress.  Placid,  unruffled 
acquiescence  of  all  in  all  things  is  the  surest  evidence  of  stagnation 
and  social  decay. 

Differences  should  be  encouraged  which  will  yield  fruitful 
service  to  the  common  good.  And  the  more  surely  the  Council  re- 
flects all  the  possible  differences  of  this  nature  which  the  com- 
munity affords,  the  more  surely  will  real  and  stable  progress  be 
made.  The  community  interests  are  everybody’s.  A few  or  even 
a majority  do  themselves  and  all  concernd  a great  wrong  by  arbi- 
trarily suppressing  the  opinions  of  any.  The  best  community  is 
one  where  all  gain  an  opportunity  to  contribute  to  the  common 
counsels. 

Inspiration,  not  Administration 

All  may  not  see  at  once  the  reason  for  the  insistance  that  our 
Council  shall  not  undertake  to  do  things  itself.  It  should  not.  It 
should  only  advise.  Its  source  of  power  is  its  moral  influence 
and  its  detacht  and  disinterested  concern  for  the  whole  community 
life.  If  it  undertakes  to  do  things,  to  command  funds  and  a force 
of  employes,  it  finds  itself  soon  in  competition,  if  not  in  open  con- 
flict, with  some  other  agency  or  organization.  Its  central  purpose  is 
thus  inevitably  lost. 

Not  undertaking  to  do  things  itself,  never  permitting  itself  to 
come  into  direct  conflict  in  its  own  administrative  field  with  any 
other  agency  or  institution,  it  is  always  in  a position  to  inspire  re- 
newd  or  alterd  activity  on  the  part  of  the  administrative  agencies 
of  the  community.  There  can  be  no  direct  clash  with  these  agencies 
because  it  does  not  assume  authority  to  compel,  nor  the  power  to 
usurp.  There  cannot  persist  any  feeling  of  jealousy  on  the  part  of 
administrative  agencies,  because  there  can  be  no  permanent  grounds 
for  them.  The  Council  enters  into  no  rivalries,  and  incurs  no  enmi- 
ties except  thru  its  scorn  of  and  resistance  to  selfishness.  Agencies 
and  organizations  which  open  themselves  to  this  scorn  must  sooner 


10 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


or  later  be  recognized  by  the  whole  community  as  foes  of  the  com- 
mon good,  and  will  be  supprest  by  the  common  sense. 

Avoid  Factionalism 

Here  is  the  serious  weakness  of  the  opportunistic  philosophy 
to  which  reference  is  made  above.  Any  organization  forrnd  to  meet 
an  emergency,  and  which  vigorously  sets  about  doing  things  in 
its  own  right  and  might,  is  sure  to  run  afoul  of  some  rival  agency. 
Then  there  only  remains  for  the  two  to  fight  it  out  to  the  bitter 
extinction  of  the  one  or  the  other,  or  else  the  two  must  settle  down 
to  an  armd  truce,  dividing  forces  and  resources  between  them,  and 
often  deepening  the  factional  spirit  which  is  blighting  the  most  of 
our  American  communities.' 

Can  there  be  'a  more  manifest  need  in  our  American  life  than 
an  influence  able  to  rise  above  these  petty  factional  contentions  in 
which  our  whole  citizenship  seems  now  involvd,  and  which  can  lead 
citizens  in  seeing  the  common  interests  bigger  and  nobler  than  the 
partisan  and  selfish  concerns  of  each  faction?  This  it  may  be 
difficult  to  gain,  but  is  it  not  work  seeking?  The  easy  way  to  destroy 
the  power  of  one  self-seeking  faction  is  to  organize  another  and 
a stronger  to  overthrow  it.  But  in  the  long  run  bitter  experience 
has  shown  that  to  be  only  a compounding  of  the  mischief.  A 
third  faction  is  then  demanded  to  oppose  the  domineering  second, 
and  so  on  ad  infinitum.  After  the  third  or  fourth  contestant  enters 
the  field,  two  or  more  of  the  oM  tend  to  unite  temporily  in  defense 
of  their  factional  rights,  guaranteeing  the  perpetuity  of  both,  and 
thus  it  comes  about,  as  already  remarkt,  that  new  organizations  are 
perpetually  demanded  to  meet  new  emergencies  while  the  old 
rarely  disappear,  tho  the  emergency  which  created  them  has  past. 
A Council  such  as  we  are  striving  to  achieve  will  keep  ahead  of  the 
necessities,  see  the  emergency  before  it  overwhelms,  and  inspire 
some  old  organization  to  meet  it,  or  see  that  a new  organization 
arises  suited  to  the  need.  Thus  the  unregulated  conflict  between 
administrative  agencies  is  reduced  or  disappears,  each  is  protected 
by  public  sentiment,  made  intelligent  thru  the  Community  Council 
in  activities  which  render  a genuine  community  service,  and  the 
same  intelligent  public  opinion  is  enabld  to  suppress  agencies  and 
organizations  which  have  manifestly  outlivd  their  usefulness. 

Quick  Action 

Rarely  can  haste  be  made  thru  a Council  such  as  we  propose. 
But  the  necessity  for  quick  action  is  forestalld.  Quick  action  is 
dangerous.  To  make  democracy  safe,  sufficient  time  must  be  allowd 
for  the  seasoning  of  public  sentiment.  More  often  than  not,  hasty 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


11 


decisions  and  quick  action  necessitated  by  unforeseen  emergencies 
result  in  mistakes  and  loss.  Much  the  better  way  is  to  see  the  issue 
far  enough  in  advance  to  prepare  for  it  thru  deliberate  public  dis- 
cussion. Then  when  decisions  are  reacht,  they  are  trustworthy  and 
sure.  Leaping  in  the  dark,  or  before  the  eyes  are  thoroly  opend 
from  a preceding  slumber,  is  constantly  involving  us  in  pains  and 
wounds  over  which  our  society  lives  to  groan. 

Where  the  issue  is  clear  upon  its  first  presentation,  and  public 
sentiment  immediately  crystalizes,  this  type  of  Council  can  act  as 
quickly  as  need  be.  In  other  cases  quick  action  is  very  likely  to 
be  mistaken  action,  and  the  Council  therefore  renders  a worthy 
service  in  delay.  This  results  in  no  loss,  but  altogether  in  gain,  if 
the  Council  is  true  to  its  mission,  and  is  always  alert  to  foresee  and 
forestall  emergencies  well  before  they  break. 

Members,  How  Elected 

This  ceases  to  be  a question  of  great  moment,  provided  the 
principles  upon  which  the  organization  of  the  Council  is  based 
are  adhered  to.  If  any  element  in  the  community  finds  itself  with- 
out a voice  on  the  Community  Council,  they  need  only  say  so,  and 
the  Council  promptly  sees  that  some  one  capable  of  reflecting  this 
neglected  element  is  included. 

If  the  selection  of  the  Council  fails  to  satisfy  this  element  or 
satisfies  only  a portion,  the  portion  satisfied  will  fall  away,  and 
a new  group  will  form  demanding  recognition,  if  the  dissatisfied 
portion  is  of  sufficient  size  and  coherence  to  be  recognizable. 

A Council  of  our  type  will  thus  keep  going  of  its  own  momen- 
tum once  it  is  well  started,  and  provided  it  remains  true  to  its 
genius.  If  the  whole  community  appreciates  its  purpose,  public  senti- 
ment will  prevent  its  ever  falling  under  the  domination  of  an  opin- 
ionated few  who  will  destroy  its  character.  Any  member  who  grows 
so  lukewarm  that  he  fails  to  attend  meetings,  or  ceases  to  be  the 
spokesman  of  a conscious  sentiment  in  the  community,  will  almost 
automatically  drop  out,  and  his  place  will  be  taken  by  some  one  who 
does  display  an  interest  in  community  affairs,  and  reflects  the  senti- 
ments of  an  interested  group. 

A fatal  mistake,  as  already  pointed  out,  would  be  to  pack  the 
Council  with  persons  whose  single  aim  is  to  work  the  community 
in  the  interests  of  particular  organizations  or  institutions.  To  avoid 
this  it  should  not  be  the  custom  to  seek  the  official  designation  of 
persons  by  interested  organizations. 

Nor  will  anything  be  gaind  by  an  elaborate  system  of  popular 
election.  This  will  open  all  the  floodgates  of  partisanship,  as  it 
commonly  does  in  political  elections.  Public  sentiments  creates  its 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


own  simple  machinery  for  filling  the  membership  of  the  Council. 
The  element  which  feels  itself  unrepresented  need  only  lift  its  voice 
and  it  forthwith  becomes  the  duty  of  the  Council  to  choose  to  its 
membership  a person  of  that  group  who  at  once  reflects  their  com- 
mon sentiments  and  displays  a disposition  to  recognize  the  supreme 
interests  of  the  whole  community.  Under  this  system  members 
will  enter  and  retire  from  the  membership  on  the  Council  almost 
automatically,  the  changes  controld  by  the  constantly  shifting  pub- 
lic sentiment. 

Is  a Community  Council  Necessary? 

Let  each  community  decide  for  itself.  Nothing  is  necessary 
whose  need  is  not  evident.  Council  or  no  council,  each  community 
must  be  up  and  doing.  Otherwise  it  wi  1 decay. 

The  discussion  above  speaks  for  itself.  The  experience  of 
each  community  furnishes  instructive  lessons.  The  University’s 
program  lays  no  absolute  insistence  upon  any  particular  measures 
or  methods.  Its  facilities  are  at  the  command  of  any  community 
however  organized.  If  any  community  believes  the  proposed  Com- 
munity Council  is  not  suited  to  its  needs,  there  remains  to  find 
some  other  method  which  will  su't.  All  the  energies  and  good-will 
of  the  University  staff  will  be  cheerfully  devoted  to  co-operation  in 
finding  that  method  or  measure. 

The  remainder  of  this  bulletin  discusses  a large  number  of 
measures  deserving  attention.  They  can  be  undertaken  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  community  by  agencies  sufficiently  commanding  the 
respect  and  support  of  their  citizenship.  The  staff  of  the  Univer- 
sity will  heartily  co-operate  as  may  be  desired  and  needful  with  any 
such  agency  in  any  community  where  any  of  these  measures  are 
found  to  be  desirable. 

COMMUNITY  FORUM 

Each  community  owes  it  to  its  citizenship  to  provide  some 
medium  for  the  systematic  discussion  of  questions  of  public  interest. 
A good  newspaper  goes  far,  but  the  ordinary  newspaper  affords  only 
meager  opportunity  to  “talk  back.”  if  it  affords  any  at  all.  Further- 
more, “writing  back”  is,  for  most  persons,  artificial  and  too  labori- 
ous a method  to  be  freely  utilized.  The  average  citizen  will  talk 
free*y,  when  he  must  be  driven  to  the  last  extremity  before  he  will 
presume  to  express  himself  in  writing. 

Undoubtedly  writing  to  the  editor  of  the  local  pa^er  should  be 
greatly  encouraged,  but  never  will  that  be  so  ready  an  expression 
of  sentiment  as  is  speaking  up  to  put  a pointed  question  at  a com- 
munity forum. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


13 


Protracted  experiment  has  now  demonstrated  the  most  effec- 
tive methods  and  rules  under  which  a forum  may  be  conducted.  We 
do  not  attempt  here  to  enter  far  into  the  discussion  of  this  exceed- 
ingly promising  social  device.  The  war  and  the  after-war  re- 
actions have  undoubtedly  set  back  this  movement.  It  is  not  a 
“radical”  device,  but  it  is  essentially  liberal.  And  in  the  widespread 
reaction  against  radicalism  since  the  war,  liberal  ideas  and  liberal 
methods  of  expressing  democracy  have  sufferd  severely. 

No  community  which  fears  to  face  the  truth  fancies  a forum. 
None  which  fears  the  excesses  of  radicalism  can  afford  to  be  with- 
out a forum.  It  is  the  surest  cure  for  such  excesses.  Where  the 
truth  has  a free  course  among  an  intelligent  citizenship  no  one, 
however  sincerely  conservative,  has  anything  to  fear.  Where  the 
truth  is  supprest,  free  speech  is  persistently  stifled  and  public  senti- 
ment has  no  opportunity  to  form  and  season,  the  sincere  liberal 
and  the  sincere  conservative  alike  have  everything  to  fear.  The  end 
of  that  system  is  violence  and  the  frustration  of  aims  which  democ- 
racy most  values. 

How  to  Organize 

A successful  forum  must  “play  the  game  according  to  the  rules.” 
Yet  the  rules  are  flexible.  The  aim  is  to  furnish  a medium  thru 
which  public  sentiment  may  form  and  grow  in  health.  A forum,  is 
not  a debating  society.  There  are  no  votes  taken.  No  official 
judgment  is  past  upon  disputants.  Indeed  disputes  are  avoided. 
It  is  not  a free-for-all,  a paradise  of  opportunity  for  the  voluble’ 
citizen  who  has  a fixt  opinion  on  every  subject  and  seizes  every  op- 
portunity to  let  his  fellow-citizens  know  what  that  opinion  is. 

It  is  an  educational  force  of  the  highest  order  and  offers  a 
welcome  to  the  citizen  who  really  wishes  to  know.  Properly  con- 
ducted, it  discourages  the  forensic  rounder  who  is  never  happy  un- 
less he  is  talking. 

Interested  persons  should  secure  the  literature  of  the  Na- 
tional Open  Forum  Bureau,  and  profit  by  the  experience  of  hundreds 
of  communities  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Mr.  George  W.  Cole- 
man is  the  chief  apostle  of  this  movement,  having  with  eminent  suc- 
cess conducted  the  Ford  Hall  Forum  in  Boston  for  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years.  So  thoroly  devoted  to  this  method  of  public  serv- 
ice has  he  become,  that  he  has  relinquisht  other  business  and  at  his 
own  charges  is  devoting  himself  to  the  advancement  of  this  cause. 

A number  of  cities  and  towns  in  a given  region  could  serve 
their  own  interests  no  better  than  to  arrange  jointly  to  bear  the 
expense  of  a visit  from  Mr.  Coleman,  when,  in  one  after  another  he 
might  explain  the  origin,  genius,  and  aims  of  the  forum. 


14 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


Where  this  is  not  feasible,  correspondence  with  Mr.  Coleman, 
who  is  President  of  the  National  Forum  Counci1,  will  .be  very  re- 
warding. He  is  to  be  reacht  at  1244  Little  Building,  Boston,  Mass. 

Community  Forum  and  Community  Council 

A community  council  of  the  type  discust  above  is  a kind-  of 
forum.  It  is  a medium  of  free  discussion  of  community  affairs. 
But  it  does  not  answer  the  full  purpose.  It  cannot  serve  the  ends 
for  which  it  is  ultimately  designd  and  at  the  same  time  furnish  the 
entire  citizenship  the  opportunity  it  needs  and  deserves  for  partici- 
pating in  public  discussion. 

In  most  cases  the  community  forum  should  be  organized  under 
the  direction  of  a committee  or  board  whose  special  business  is  its 
proper  conduct. ' The  choice  of  topics  and  speakers,  and  the  conduct 
of  sessions,  require  careful  preparation  and  a high  order  of  ability. 
Citizens  in  large  numbers  will  not  come  regularly  to  hear  rounders 
harangue,  or  to  flounder  through  a sloppy,  carelessly  prepared 
program. 

Speakers  of  recognized  ability  should  be  secured.  They  should 
be  chosen  for  their  known  mastery  of  the  subjects  they  assume  to 
discuss.  About  half  of  the  session  is  occupied  with  a formal  ad- 
dress by  the  speaker,  and  the  other  half  is  devoted  to  the  question 
hour,  when  the  speaker  is  further  drawn  out  by  inquiries  from 
the  audience.  This  should  not  be  turnd  into  a series  of  extempora- 
neous speeches  from  the  floor.  No  remarks  should  be  permitted 
except  those  designed  to  draw  out  from  the  speaker  of  the  evening 
the  information  which  he  is  assumed  to  have  upon  the  subject  be- 
ing discust. 

The  forum  stands  by  itself,  and  can  be  successfully  conducted, 
whether  the  community  maintains  a council  of  the  type  proposed 
above  or  not.  A council,  alive  to  its  responsibilities,  will  likely 
discover  the  need  of  a forum  to  help  develop  the  public  sentiment 
upon  which  it  must  depend,  and  will  see  that  a forum  is  conducted 
under  proper  auspices. 

Nor  shou’d  it  be  overlookt  that  a forum  covers  a much-  wider 
range  of  subjects  than  does  a community  council.  The  latter  is  di- 
rectly concernd  with  matters  which  bear  upon  the  immediate  con- 
cerns of  the  local  community.  The  forum  treats  questions  of  the 
widest  interest  to  the  citizens  as  members  of  the  nation  and  as  in- 
habitants of  the  world.  In  the  long  run,  of  course,  a first  class 
community  can  be  composed  o^y  of  those  whose  interests  range 
thus  to  the  farthest  bounds  of  human  concern.  It  is  therefore  im- 
portant from  the  point  of  view  of  the  community  council  that  the 
forum  should  render  this  larger  service  which  it  cannot  supply  itself. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  15 

but  which  it  requires  for  the  type  of  citizenship  necessary  to  its 
success. 

COMMUNITY  LIBRARY 

No  household  can  keep  itself  stockt  with  all  the  books  and 
periodicals  needed  to  cultivate  the  highest  order  of  citizenship.  A 
community  library  is  now  a prime  necessity.  The  matter  is  of  such 
vital  and  far-reaching  significance  that  we  cannot  pretend  to  treat 
it  adequately  in  this  bulletin.  Separate  bulletins  are  devoted  to 
details. 

A state-wide  movement  should  be  prest  with  vigor  under  the 
slogan,  “Books  for  Every  Citizen.”  Nothing  short  of  this  ideal 
should  be  considerd  satisfactory.  Every  mile  of  countryside  should 
be  insured  of  ready  access  to  a library.  If  that  cannot  be  thru 
the  equipment  of  its  trade  town,  then  it  should  be  thru  a library 
establisht  in  the  open  country  in  connection  with  a school  house 
or  independently,  or  else  thru  a traveling  library  bringing  regularly 
roomy  chests  of  the  best  standard  and  new  literature.  A country 
library  system  eminently  successful  in  other  states,  should  prevail 
in  Oklahoma. 

There  is  no  national  organization  now  for  the  promotion  of 
libraries,  .except  the  American  Library  Association,  a fellowship  of 
professional  librarians,  and,  since  Mr.  Carnegie’s  death,  no  indi- 
vidual philanthropist  is  giving  himself  concern  for  the  national  need. 
There  is  thus  all  the  more  imperative  demand  for  a vigorous  press- 
ing of  the  campaign  locally  and  by  states. 

Every  community  is  urged  to  write  to  the  State  Library  Com- 
mission, Oklahoma  City,  for  a loan  library,  or  for  assistance  in 
organization. 

Means  and  Measures 

No  community  need  be  satisfied  with  small  beginnings  and 
meager  measures. ' One  community,  starting  from  nothing,  readily 
organized  a hundred-book  club  of  ten  members  which  insured  a 
thousand  books  at  once.  A relatively  large  association  might  be 
formd  in  almost  any  community  each 'of  whose  members  would 
engage  to  supply  one  book  a month  for  an  indefinite  period.  A 
steady  inflow  of  several  score  or  even  hundreds  of  books  a month 
might  thus  be  insured. 

Similarly  a simple  organization  might  insure  the  annual  con- 
tribution of  standard  periodical  publications  in  such  numbers  as 
to  cover  a wide  range  of  interests.  Resources  for  building  up  a 
library  are  rarely  lacking  anywhere.  Their  organization  is  in  de- 
fault. A few  devoted  and  resourceful  citizens  can  supply  this  lack. 
There  are  few  community  needs  so  widespread  which  it  would  be 


16  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

so  easy  to  supply  if  even  a few  public-spirited  individuals  would 
set  themselves  to  the  task. 

Housing 

Proper  housing  is  important,  tho  not  the  chief  condition  of  suc- 
cess with  a community  library.  The  indifferent  will  not  go  far  out 
of  their  way  to  get  books. 

Mr.  Carnegie  no  longer  lives  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  new 
library  building.  But  his  soul  goes  marching  on.  Individual  citizens 
can  honor  themselves  and  their  town  in  no  better  manner  than  by 
providing  the  building.  There  is  no  more  legitimate  use  for  public 
bonds  than  for  this  purpose,  where  citizens  appreciate  its  importance. 
Popular  subscriptions  for  the  purpose  furnish  an  admirable  .method 
of  tying  the  interest  of  all  to  the  project. 

Tho  all  measures  fail  for  securing  a separate  building  for 
the  library,  there  always  remaihs  the  upper  room  over  a store  or 
a chamber  in  the  school  building. 

A tasty,  separate  and  roomy  library  building  is  usually  prefer- 
able to  all  other  resorts,  unless  the  community  is  prepared  to  do 
what  all  our  communities  must  eventually  do,  erect  a grand  cen- 
tral community  building  to  house  all  the  cultural  features  of  the 
common  life.  In  that  case,  the  library  serves  its  purpose  best  by 
being  made  an  integral  part  of  that  unified  program. 

The  library  should  be  a community  institution,  designd  and 
operated  to  serve  all  phases  and  grades  of  the  community  life.  Its 
too  close  identification  with  the  schools  which  are  designd  to  serve 
directly  only  the  child  life,  is  therefore  a mistake,  or  when  nec- 
essary, should  be  accepted  as  temporary.  For  this  reason  it  is  also 
a mistake  to  commit  the  project  to  the  promotion  or  operation  of 
a single  agency  devoted  primarily  to  another  purpose.  A library 
playing  second  fiddle  to  some  other  enterprise  usually  makes  poor 
music. 

Administration 

In  many  older  communities  the  library  is  conducted  by  a board 
elected  or  appointed  under  the  same  authority  as  any  other  de- 
partment or  government.  The  start  must  usually  be  made  by  a 
group  of  volunteers,  and  the  project  often  remains  under  the  di- 
rection of  a separate  library  association,  with  few  or  many  members. 
In  any  case  a sense  of  community  service  is  essential  to  succcess. 

A paid  librarian  is  about  as  essential  as  the  books  themselves. 
Indeed,  a clutter  of  uncatalogd  books  is  sometimes  worse  than  no 
library  at  all.  One  visit  often  fills  the  inquirer  with  such  despair 
as  permanently  to  put  him  in  antagonism  to  the  whole  idea. 

Nor  can  a good-intentiond  volunteer  often  supply  this  lack. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


17 


Perhaps  it  is  best  to  start  a library  under  the  charge  of  a devoted 
man  or  woman  willing  to  contribute  his  or  her  services  as  librarian, 
but  that  lame  method  should  be  set  aside  as  soon  as  possible.  Rarely 
does  the  volunteer  have  the  requisite  training  or  skill  for  large  suc- 
cess, however  commendable  may  be  his  devotion  and  persistence  in 
good  works.  The  country  plan,  when  adopted  in  this  state,  will 
open  the  way  for  the  smallest  villages  and  the  rural  population  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  trained  librarian's  services. 

The  duties  of  librarian  are  no  longer  confined  to  the  security 
of  the  books.  It  is  not  enough  to  deal  them  out  to  those  who  come 
after  them,  and  provide  that  they  are  returnd  without  injury  in  due 
time.  A librarian  is  an  educator,  a community  force  of  the  highest 
va’ue,  if  he  or  she  measures  up  to  present-day  demands.  The 
books  are  not  a dead  weight  to  be  carryd  by  those  with  the  requisite 
native  zeal  and  strength.  They  are  live  agents  of  thrifty  and  effi- 
cient citizenship.  A librarian  properly  honoring  the  profession  gives 
the  books  this  value,  and  makes  them  the  instruments  of  culture 
and  power  in  the  whole  personal  and  community  life  of  the  popula- 
tion. 

Librarians  with  this  insight  and  capacity  are  not  pickt  up  any- 
where and  everywhere.  But  they  are  to  be  had,  and  the  investment, 
for  a salary  adequate  to  secure  such  a one,  is  usually  quite  as 
well  placed  as  expenditures  for  books  and  building. 

Museums 

It  is  now  well  understood  that  the  printed  page  is  not  the  only 
book  out  of  which  the  lessons  of  life  may  be  read.  With  advanc- 
ing. age  every  community  gains  a rich  legacy  of  history  and  tradi- 
tion. This  should  not  merely  be  recorded  in  books.  It  should  be 
made  vivid  to  the  present  and  oncoming  generation  by  other  remem- 
brancers. Curios,  relics  of  eminent  individuals  and  of  outstanding 
events,  can  be  readily  collected  in  any  community.  They  accummulate 
in  private  homes,  any  way,  and  they  often  serve  their  private  pur- 
poses as  well  or  better  by  being  shared  with  all. 

Material  for  a museum  can  be  gathered  by  any  community 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Former  residents  wander  everywhere, 
to  remain  or  to  return.  In  either  case  they  can  easily  be  interested 
to  contribute  curios,  and  objects  of  all  sorts,  revealing  the  customs 
and  manners  of  other  lands,  for  the  instruction  of  those  at  home. 
Only  a few  years  of  reasonably  active  propaganda  in  the  interests  of 
the  community  museum  will  be  required  to  provide  a valuable  col- 
lection. 

Of  course  it  is  important  that  adequate  provision  shall  be  made 
for  the  care  and  display  of  the  material  collected.  Nothing  will  dis- 


IS  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

courage  contributions  more  effectually  than  allowing  what  is  already 
contributed  to  pile  up  under  a covering  of  dust  and  in  vexatious 
confusion. 

Usually  the  museum  should  be  a department  of  the  library.  In 
most  cases  it  should  remain  such  permanently.  Only  in  the  largest 
cities  does  the  museum  properly  take  on  an  institutional  life  of  its 
own. 

INTELLIGENT  CITIZENSHIP 

Each  citizen  stands  under  a twofold  oM'sation.  He  should  make 
the  most  and  best  possible  of  his  chosen  vocation,  his  profession  or 
business.  And,  second,  he  should  take  a share  in  the  common  en- 
terprises, aside  from  his  business  or  profession,  on  which  the  com- 
mon life  subsistsl 

Both  are  obligations  of  citizenship.  The  first  is  not  to  be 
minimized  from  this  point  of  view.  Citizenship  does  not  consist 
merely  in  voting  when  the  time  comes  or  in  taking  part  in  some 
political  movement.  There  is  no  holier  pr  more  useful  act  of  citi- 
zenship than  that  of  prosecuting  to  the  fullest  possible  efficiency 
one’s  business  or  profession.  Of  course  a purely  selfish  motive 
should  not  control  this  service.  Every  business  or  profession  has  a di- 
rect bearing  upon  the  common  good,  and  that  is  most  efficiently 
prosecuted  which  is  driven  by  considerations  of  the  general  good, 
with  private  gain  subordinated  to  the  larger  motive. 

On  the  other  hand,  no  community  can  prosper  which  is  made 
up  of  persons  who  are  entirely  absorbd,  each  in  his  own  profession 
or  business.  That  would  be  no  community  at  all.  Individual  en- 
terprises must  be  tied  together,  linkt  in  a common  program,  else 
the  community  fails  utterly. 

To  do  his  part  properly  in  either  particular  each  citizen  should 
be  intelligent,  and  constantly  freshen  his  mind.  He  must  study 
his  business  and  not  less  zealously  study  some  phase  or  phases  of 
the  common  life  biftding  the  community  together. 

No  movement  is  more  vital  to  the  community  life  than  that  of 
adult  education.  Properly  conceivd  as  already  remarkt,  education 
begins  with  the  cradle,  and  ends  only  with  the  grave.  Manifestly 
the  conventional  methods  of  the  schools  for  the  youngsters  are  not 
suitable  for  grown-ups,  those  devoting  their  energies  to  their  pro- 
fessions or  various  lines  of  business.  But  study  and  learning  should 
never  cease. 

Correspondence  Courses 

The  marvelous  recent  spread  of  correspondence  methods  of 
instruction  is  evidence  that  our  adult  life  is  awakening  to  the  truth 
of  all  this.  Literally  millions  of  Americans  are  now  following  cor- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


19 


respondence  study,.  Hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  are  being 
voluntarily  expended  annually  by  these  adult  students  in  this  type 
of  education.  The  average  age  of  the  sixty  thousand  students  now 
enrold  with  one  of  the  highest  grade  of  these  correspondence 
schools  is  32  years.  Many  business  and  professional  men  are  pur- 
suing one  or  another  of  these  courses  all  the  time.  As  soon  as 
they  have  completed  one  course,  they  enrol  for  another,  often  in 
a different  school,  and  covering  the  widest  variety  of  interests. 

The  University  of  Oklahoma  offers  a great  variety  of  courses  by 
correspondence,  and  at  points  where  its  service  is  limited,  students 
are  referd  to  sources  where  each  inquirer  may  secure  satisfactory 
direction  in  his  studies.  Expert  guidance  is  now  available  in  any 
field  of  study  where  any  citizen  may  conceivably  desire  to  inform 
himself.  With  a reasonable  degree  of  application  and  at  reasonable 
cost  any  may  find  out  what  he  wants  to  know  when  he  wants  to 
know  it.  Thus  no  lack  of  opportunity  in  youth  need  deter  any 
one  from  preparation  to  do  his  full  part  either  in  his  chosen  voca- 
tion or  in  the  common  service.  Not  even  neglect  of  early  opportuni- 
ties need  leave  any  repining  thru  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Con- 
stantly improving  methods  of  adult  education  open  the  way  for 
any  to  “redeem  the  time”  he  may  have  lost  thru  neglect  or  thought- 
lessness or  involuntary  deprivations. 

Self-directed  Education 

General  libraries,  technical  and  other  specialized  periodical  pub- 
lications, a veritable  flood  of  literature  on  every  conceivable  subject 
within  reach  of  all,  enable  any  so  disposed  to  direct  his  own  educa- 
tion. Any  one  who  will  go  systematically  about  the  business  can  pick 
up  information  necessary  to  keep  his  mind  fresh  and  growing. 
Some  system  is  necessary.  Sloppily  gaind,  unclassified  information 
has  very  limited  value.  But  each  can  cultivate  system,  and  pursue 
definite  aims  in  his  independent  study,  and  gain  much  strength  of 
mind  and  character  in  the  process. 

A definite  purpose  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  One  of  our 
most  thoughtful  public  men  has  declared  that  he  doubts  the  value 
of  any  “general  reading,”  aside  from  recreative  poetry  and  fic- 
tion. That  is,  he  maintains  that  all  fruitful  reading  aims  at  a 
definite  purpose.  The  student  designs  to  inform  himself  in  a partic- 
ular line  for  a particular  purpose.  To  set  one’s  self  upon  a course 
of  reading  simply  to  cultivate  the  mind  is,  to  say  the  least,  a ques- 
tionable procedure.  Immeasurably  larger  gains  in  every  direction 
may  be  insured  by  shaping  a definite,  indeed,  a severely  practical 
purpose,  and  reading  to  it. 

These  definite  purposes  may  properly  bear  upon  one’s  voca- 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


20 

tion.  Each  business  and  professional  man  should  form  the  habit 
of  using  the  community  library  to  help  him  in  the  day’s  work.  This 
is  what  libraries  are  for  in  the  conception  of  the  best  librarians,  and 
some  of  them  are  exceedingly  ingenious  and  successful  in  making 
the  library  serve  this  purpose. 

Studying  for  Citizenship 

Citizenship  embraces  the  twofold  obligation  already  referred 
to.  A rapid'y  increasing  number  of  business  and  professional  men 
realize  the  need  of  continuous  and  systematic  study  of  their  voca- 
tion. Much  fewer  realize  the  equally  important  duty  to  study  their 
share  of  the  common  task. 

Every  conscientious  citizen  is  already  a member  of  from 
two  to  twenty  different  committees  or  boards  of  societies  engaged 
in  the  public*servi'ce.  And,  being  necessarily  a jack  of  all  these 
trades,  since  they  are  so  many,  he  is  really  capable  in  none.  Would 
it  not  be  better  both  for  the  individual  and  for  his  community,  if 
he  would  concentrate  his  attention  upon  fewer  public  enterprises, 
and  make  thoro  work  of  them?  Most  of  these  deal  with  problems 
of  great  intricacy.  They  cannot  be  mastered  by  sitting  in  an  indif- 
ferently conducted  committee  meeting,  with  watch  in  hand  guarding 
the  time  for  the  next  appointment. 

Much  of  the  public  business,  that  of  school  boards,  -of  health 
boards,  of  political  committees,  of  welfare  organizations  of  all 
kinds,  is  now  under  the  control  of  tyros,  men  and  women  who  labor 
seriously  to  look  wise  and  support  the  dignity  of  their  office,  but 
who  know  precious  little  about  the  enterprise  they  are  attempting 
to  manage.  We  need  men  and  women  in  every  community  who  will 
seriously  specialize  in  phases  of  the  common  service,  and  will  really 
know  what  they  are  about.  Is  there  anything,  indeed,  which  our 
American  community  life  needs  more? 

If  we  could  make  it  unfashionable  to  be  a “joiner”  and  to  be 
listed  on  all  the  public  committees  at  once,  and  honor  rather  the 
man  or  woman  who  undertakes  one  or  two  phases  of  the  public 
service  at  a time,  and  does  that  one  or  those  two  things  thoroly 
well,  out  of  a comprehensive  and  ripe  knowledge,  we  should  have 
citizens  a great  deal  more  worthy  of  honor,  and  a community  life 
far  more  efficient  and  progressive. 

No  one  need  narrow  himself  permanently  to  a single  specialty. 
That  might  not  be  good  either  for  him  or  for  the  public  service.  He 
wou’d  likely  become  a crank.  He  might  ride  his  hobby  to  death, 
and  hinder  rather  than  advance  the  cause  he  espousd.  Each  might 
serve  with  all  his  mind  and  vigor  for  a time  in  one  field,  and  then 
transfer  his  enthusiasm  to  some  other  needy  field. 


21 


% 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 

A highly  capable  member  of  a prominent  organization  makes 
it  a rule  to  serve  a certain  length  of  time  on  one  committee,  and 
then  ask  for  appointment  upon  some  other,  and  so  on  around  the 
list  of  committees,  wherever  his  capacities  guide.  And  to  each  he 
gives  an  eminence  and  efficiency,  which  it  altogether  lacks  without 
him.  He  does  one  thing  at  a time  and  does  each  thoroly  well. 

Could  there  be  a more  useful  citizen  than  one  who  keeps  an 
eye  open  for  the  neglected  zone  of  the  public  service,  the  essential 
committees  and  boards  and  community  interests,  and  throws  his 
whole  energies  into  bringing  the  most  neglected  to  its  proper 
recognition  and  popular  support?  As  soon  as  he  has  put  a partic- 
ular enterprise  on  its  feet  and  enhst  adequate  support  from  those 
with  less  initiative  and  vision,  he  may  well  transfer  his  energies 
to  a similar  service  for  the  next  needful  but  neglected  enterprise. 

We  need  an  order  of  citizens  who  will  not  clamor  for  positions 
on  committees  in  the  public  eye,  but  who  will  seek  out  worthy  en- 
terprises suffering  from  neglect,  and  thru  their  concentrated  study 
and  labor,  force  them  to  the  public  recognition  they  deserve.  There 
shouM  be  more  honor  in  such  service  than  in  nomine  membership 
on  a hundred  committees  already  conspicious  and  demanding  only 
dignity  and  a big  name  to  support  the  office. 

Enrolment  for  Intelligent  Citizenship 

So  important  is  the  recognition  of.  this  twofold  obligation  of 
the  citizen,  that  in  each  community,  under  the  Community  Council 
or  the  Community  Library  or  some  other  appropriate  auspices,  there 
might  well  be  a persistent  canvass  to  enrol  adult  citizens  under  the 
two  classifications.  A modified  plan  to  the  same  effect  might  be 
employd  among  the  children  in  the  high  school,  and  even  among  the 
grades.  Every  child  is  the  better  pupil  for  some  enthusiasm  in- 
dependent of  or  collateral  with  h:s  routine  school  work.  One  com- 
munity has  so  far  enlisted  its  school  pupils  in  the  public  service,  and 
has  cultivated  such  a high  order  of  intelligence  among  them,  that 
their  concerted  efforts  are  effecting  one  public  reform  after  another. 

The  Extension  D’vLion  of  the  University  is  prepared  to  supply 
copies  of  a simple  blank  on  which  this  enrolment  may  be  taken. 
The  form  is  reproduced  in  the  Appendix  of  this  bulletin,  and  can 
be  copied  or  adapted  by  any  community  or  community  organiza- 
tion desiring  to  pursue  this  plan. 

Try  it.  Do  not  nag.  Do  not  push  offensively.  Make  each 
citizen  want  to.  be  intehigent.  Put  means  in  his  way  by  which  he 
can  at  once  become  proficient  in  his  vocation  and  efficient  in  his 
citizenship.  Do  not  insist  that  oldsters  shall  re-enter  “school.” 
They  will  not  do  it,  and  no  one  ought  to  try  to  make  them.  But 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


create  such  an  atmosphere  of  intelligence  that  each  will  wish  to 
join,  to  help  along  the  line  of  his  own  enthusiasms,  and  in  pursuance 
of  the  studies  which  he  likes  the  best. 

CIVIC  CLUBS 

Common  enterprises  require  concerted  action.  When  citizens 
become  intelligent  as  to  the  community  needs,  two,  ten,  a hundred 
of  them  will  speedi'y  agree  upon  some  particular  move  as  impera- 
tive. They  will  wish  to  put  the  full  measure  of  their  combined 
energies  behind  the  needful  project. 

They  will  inevitably  form  a committee,  or  more  strictly  speak- 
ing, a club.  A committee  is  appointed ; a club  appoints  itself.  Every 
live  community  is  rich  in  such  organizations. 

Sneers  have  been  vented  upon  the  numerous  civic  clubs  which 
have  recently  sprung  up.  They  are  said  to  be  ephemeral,  short-livd. 
Many  of  them  are,  and  they  ought  to  be.  That  is  their  beauty 
and  high  virtue.  Some  of  them  set  out  to  accomplish  a particu- 
lar purpose,  and  having  achievd  it,  they  go  out  of  existence.  There- 
in they  show  their  good  sense,  and  render  a second  royal  public 
service.  Few  evils  so  sorely  afflict  our  American  communities  as 
the  clutter  of  useless  organizations,  societies  which  have  forgotten 
what  they  came  into  existence  for,  and  whose  energies  are  exhausted 
in  seeking  an  excuse  for  continued  being.  Any  one  of  these  which 
deliberately  commits  suicide  is  to  be  honored. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  another  type  of  Civic  Club  which 
goes  far  to  supply  the  lack  of  a Community  Council.  These  may 
not  be  doing  all  which  a more  comprehensive  and  representative 
Council  could  accomplish,  but  practicady  all  of  the  recent  progres- 
sive measures  put  thru  in  some  communities  have  come  about 
thru  the  patient  and  persistent  agitation  of  the  local  Civic  Club. 

Where  there  is  no  community  council,  one  live,  wide-visiond 
Civic  Club  may  be  better  than  two  or  ten.  But  under  the  wise 
leadership  of- a Community  Council  a number  of  such  clubs,  organ- 
ized for  a specific  purpose,  and  passing  promptly  out  of  existence 
when  that  purpose  is  achievd,  may  well  be  kept  going  all  the  time. 
Some  kind  of  group  organization  is  bound  to  develop  on  a large 
sca^e  where  every  citizen  is  alert  to  do  his  full  share  in  studying 
the  community  interests  and  pushing  for  their  development. 

There  have  been  recent  movements  among  the  women’.s  clubs 
to  substitute  strong  civic  programs  for  the  desultory  literary  and 
‘ ‘cultural”  entertainments  which  once  were  the  vogue.  Among  men 
various  types  of  civic  clubs  are  multiplying,  and  nothing  is  more 
suggestive  than  the  general  tendency  of  the  fraternal  organizations 
to  develop  wide  civic  enthusiasms. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


23 


If,  thru  a Community  Council,  or  under  other  regulative 
auspices  these  organizations  can  be  kept  from  wasteful  competition 
and  vexatious  conflict  of  purpose,  the  more  of  them  there  are, 
within  reason,  the  better.  If  there  is  no  central  clearing-house,  no 
co-ordinating  influence,  their  presence  in  numbers  may  split  the  com- 
munity into  petty  factions,  each  of  them  forgetting  the  task  in 
the  common  service  which  inspired  it  originally,  and  expending  all 
its  energies  in  the  fight  against  its  competitors  for  its  selfish  exist- 
ence. With  all  a community’s  getting  let  it  get  a community  coun- 
cil, under  that  name,  or  some  other.  Some  organization,  sufficiently 
comprehensive  to  co-ordinate  the  varied  volunteer  activities  con- 
stantly developing  in  a live  community,  is  essential.  Otherwise,  its 
very  liveliness  is  likely  to  be  the  community’s  undoing. 

MANUAL  OF  CITIZENSHIP 

A publication  for  several  of  the  larger  cities  is  now  proving 
of  great  value.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  suggestion  may  not 
be  appropriated  by  even  small  towns  and  homogenuous  rural  com- 
munities. 

This  is  a text-book  for  citizens,  a volume  well-written,  his- 
torically accurate  and  logically  arranged,  presenting  the  facts  which 
every  citizen  should  know  about  his  town  or  community.  It  can 
be  publisht  in  a form  attractive  for  general  reading,  and  serviceable 
also  as  a manual  for  study  clubs,  both  of  men  and  of  women,  and 
for  high  school  classes  in  civics. 

Any  community  supplying  a thousand  prospective  buyers  can 
almost  or  quite  cover  the  expense  of  producing  such  a volume  from 
the  sales.  A larger  sale  will  permit  reducing  the  selling  price  or 
improving  the  contents  thru  better  writing  and  more  painstaking 
research  in  preparation  for  the  writing. 

Character  and  Content 

The  volume  may  assume  any  dimensions  desired.  It  should 
not  be  so  small  as  to  lack  seriousness,  nor  so  large  as  to  balk  the 
reader  by  its  very  appearance.  It  should  be  cheap  enough  to  be 
popular,  yet  substantial  enough  to  do  credit  to  the  community.  A 
12-mo,  bound  in  light  boards  makes  the  handiest  volume. 

The  contents  may  vary  widely  with  the  ideals  and  history  and 
aspirations  of  the  community,  and  with  the  taste  of  the  authors.  A 
commendable  standard  form  would  include  four  parts  or  sections 
or  chapters : 

I.  A sketch  of  community  life,  its  roots  in  the  life  of  Europe, 
whence  our  civilization  sprang,  its  development  in  this  country 


24 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


from  colonial  conditions  thru  the  spread  of  the  population,  in  its 
varied  racial  elements,  thru  our  vast  territory. 

II.  A sketch  of  the  economic  and  other  physical  history  of 
our  particular  community,  its  traditions,  the  character  and  ambi- 
tions of  individuals  having  most  to  do  with  shaping  its  history;  its 
present  economic  program,  industries,  public  improvements  realized 
and  projected,  form  of  government  and  political  tendencies. 

III.  A sketch  of  the  cultural  history  and  present  day  life  of  the 
community,  including  education  and  educational  institutions,  religion 
and  the  churches,  deficiencies  and  excellencies,  hopes  and  ideals; 
clubs,  fraternal  and  welfare  organizations,  and  the  varied  official 
and  volunteer  media  of  expressing  the  cultural  life  of  the  people. 

IV.  Principles  and  tendencies  of  community  building,  as  reveald 
in  the  life  of  the  whole  country,  accompanied  by  illustrations,  dia- 
grams, outline  maps,  reproduction  of  charts  used  in  social  exhibits, 
and  discussion  which  will  serve  to  c’arify  the  ideas  of  the  citizenship, 
as  it  faces  the  future  of  this  particular  community. 

It  will  be  noted  that  sections  I and  IV  are  general  and  include 
material  drawn  largely  from  abroad.  Sections  II  and  III  are  local, 
and  unique  for  the  particular  community  studied.  Thus  the  volume 
becomes,  as  the  name  suggests,  a manual  of  citizenship  for  the  people 
immediately  concernd.  It  is  their  handbook.  Only  they,  and  the 
scatterd  former  residents  of  the  town,  will  be  interested,  and  the 
sales  will  be  limited  to  them. 

Authorship  and  Publication 

The  Extension  Division  of  the  University  will  co-operate  to 
the  limit  of  its  resources  with  any  community  desiring  to  carry  out 
this  plan.  Estimates  will  be  made  of  the  probable  expense,  and 
the  text  will  be  prepared,  if  desired,  by  members  of  the  University 
staff,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  proper  representatives  of  the 
community. 

The  expense  and  value  of  the  volume  must  be  regulated  by  the 
ambitions  and  resources  of  the  community  concernd.  If  there  is 
a local  printer  who  can  put  the  business  thru  in  creditable  fashion, 
it  may  be  locally  printed.  Since  book  work  is  a distinct  branch  of 
the  printer’s  art,  it  is  more  likely  that  a community  will  be  best 
served  by  publishers  at  a distance  whose  work  is  standard. 

In  the  making  of  surveys  and  in  the  collection  of  .material,  the 
University  staff  will  be  in  the  best  position  to  serve.  Local  assist- 
ance will  be  necessary,  and  the  contents  of  sections  II  and  III,  in  the 
outline  above,  will  be  a purely  local  product,  tho  the  text  may  be 
prepard  by  an  experienced  writer  supplied  by  the  University.  The 
material  used  in  sections  I and  IV  is  manifestly  most  available  thru 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  25 

die  University  staff,  whose  researches  in  this  field  are  wide  and 
constant. 

Uses  of  the  Book 

These  are  apparent  or  have  been  suggested  by  what  has  already 
been  stated.  Does  your  community  wish  to  build  up  a fund  of 
assured  fact  and  commonly  accepted  principles,  and  to  develop  a 
citizenship  accustomd  to  thinking  and  acting  in  concert?  The 
preparation  and  general  use  of  such  a manual  as  this  will  be  a 
powerful  instrument  to  that  end. 

Its  possible  use  as  a text-book  for  a brief  course  in  the  high 
school  would  alone  justify  the  expense  of  its  preparation.  Four 
or  five  classes  taught  to  think  thus  in  concrete  terms  relative  to 
their  own' community  will  at  once  show  effects  in  an  intelligent  and 
conscientious  citizenship.  And  there  is  no  limit  to  the  uses  to 
which  the  volume  may  be  put  in  the  programs  of  adult  clubs  and 
societies,  and  in  the  readings  of  individual  citizens.  A simple,  but 
vigorously  prest  propaganda  would  insure  the  sale  of  the  book  to 
practically  every  member  of  the  community. 

The  first  edition  would,  of  course,  speedily  fall  out  of  date. 
It  must  be  revised  and  reprinted  frequently,  and,  from  time  to  time, 
the  form  and  content  can  be  radically  changed,  and  improvd.  Even 
tho  the  project  should  lapse  with  the  issue  of  the  first  edition,  the 
effort  wouM  be  amply  repaid.  Foundations  would  be  laid,  which 
other  schemes  of  community  building  might  utilize  for  an  indefinite 
period. 

CITY  AND  TOWN  PLANNING 

The  Topsy  program  of  letting  the  community  grow  any  old 
way,  in  any  old  direction  and  to  any  old  purpose,  is  now  being  dis- 
carded everywhere.  There  is  still  too  little  constructive  effort  being 
put  into  planning  the  smaller  towns,  but  the  awakening  has  begun. 

This  movement  has  gone  farthest  in  the  large  cities,  where  the 
difficulties  are  greatest  and  the  progress  must  be  slower  than  it 
need  be  in  the  smaller  and  more  manageable  centers.  This  ought 
not  to  be.  The  large  cities  should  show  all  their  present  zeal,  and 
a deal  more.  But  the  new  towns,  or  the  older  towns  which  are 
growing  more  slowly,  and  whose  difficulties  are  therefore  much 
reduced,  should  act  while  there  is  still  time  to  avoid  the  evils  of 
negligence  and  aimlessness,  from  which  the  great  unwieldy  cities 
now  so  severely  suffer. 

Standard  and  Unique  Plans 

Strictly  speaking  there  are  no  standard  plans  for  community 
building.  Each  community  is  unique.  The  physical  layout  of  no 


26 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


two  towns  is  exactly  the  same.  The  history  and  traditions  are  quite 
as  diverse.  They  diverge  more  and  more  as  they  grow  older,  and 
develop  each  its  own  industrial  and  cultural  life. 

The  term  here  employd  has  most  directly  to  do  with  the  physic- 
al aspects  of  the  community.  It  should  not  be  overlookt  that  these 
physical  aspects  are  largely  shaped  by  the  community’s  cultural  life 
and  its  ideais,  including  its  economic  ambitions. 

There  is  a wide-spread  “City  Beautiful”  movement.  It  is  culti- 
vating new  and  better  taste  in  countless  communities,  inspiring  gen- 
eral clean-ups,  promoting  gardening,  on  public  and  private  premises, 
raising  standards  of  architecture  both  in  homes  and  in  public 
buildings. 

But  this  movement  serves  a worthy  end  only  as  it  helps 
communities  the  more  effectively  to  express  their  soul,  their  inner 
and  higher  life.  A veneer  or  a superficial  sheen,  however  gaudy, 
cannot  make  a city  truly  beautiful,  any  more  than  a doll  or  putty 
face  can  be  beautiful  when  displayd  by  the  human  individual  who 
lacks  character,  no  matter  how  regular  or  comely  the  features  or 
facial  lines  may  be.  The  truly  beautiful  city  will  show  character. 
Its  physical  lay-out  will  be  such  as  to  serve  and  reveal  its  inner  life. 

This  further  emphasizes  the  truth  that  the  plan  of  each 
town  must  be  unique.  It  is  work  for  the  artist  and  not  merely  the 
mechanic.  No  plan  is  good  which  does  not  express  the  ideas  and 
purposes  for  which  that  particular  community  and  none  other  stands. 

Expert  Designing 

This  does  not  preclude  the  calling  of  outside,  expert  city  archi- 
tects in  town  p’anning.  It  rather  emphasizes  the  need.  The  best 
architects  will  catch  the  spirit  of  the  town  as  one  of  the  prime 
requisites  in  preparing  a plan. 

There  are  now  several  groups  of  highly  traind  architects  who 
specialize  in  the  field.  They  do  not  stop  with  drawing  designs 
* for  single  houses,  but  plan  whole  towns,  and  put  the  same  high 
order  of  brains,  and  attend  with  the  same  precision  to  detail,  in  the 
larger  project,  as  the  architect  of  the  single  building  applies  to  his 
task. 

A community  employing  these  highly  qualified  experts  must  be 
prepared  to  spend  money,  tho  in  the  long  run  no  program  can  be 
more  economical.  The  really  wasteful,  expensive  method  is  to 
allow  the  town  to  grow  hit-or-miss,  planless,  compounding  mistakes 
which  must  be  paid  for  at  a high  price  in  later  years.  Any  thought- 
ful citizen  of  this  state  need  only  look  about  him  to  see  evidences 
of  frightful  blunders  in  building  his  town,  which  might  have  been 
avoided  with  a reasonable  degree  of  forethought. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


27 


Real  Estate  Promotions 

To  the  shame  of  the  real  estate  fraternity  it  must  be  pointed 
out  that  some  of  the  most  grotesque  effects  of  our  aimless  town 
town  building  in  the  past  is  chargeable  to  their  overreaching  and 
uncoordinated  efforts.  They  have  plunged,  and,  by  zealous  adver- 
tizing, they  have  induced  many  communities  to  plunge,  without 
intelligent  regard  to  the  ultimate  effects.  Speculation  in  land,  and 
greed  for  immediate  returns,  have  dominated  much  real  estate 
development  in  all  our  cities  or  towns. 

It  is,  therefore,  gratifying  to  lay  to  the  credit  of  the  real  estate 
fraternity  much  of  the  reform  which  is  now  prevalent.  Real 
estate  agents  and  agencies  have  combined, — too  often  to  win  in- 
flated gains  from  the  public,  it  must  be  confest, — but,  in  some  in- 
stances out  of  sincere  desire  to  serve  the  public  interests,  and  to 
build  for  the  long  future  rather  than  for  the  passing  present. 

It  is  not  good  for  these  powerful  real  estate  combinations  to  re- 
main unregulated.  It  is  not  good  for  them,  and  it  certainly  is  not 
good  for  the  community.  Neither  reckless,  cut-throat  competition 
in  real  estate  dealings,  nor  arbitrary,  despotic  combination,  is  ideal. 
Real  estate  development  should  not  be  permitted  under  any  auspices 
which  disregard  the  stake  of  the  community  as  a whole  in  each 
development. 

Intelligent  and  public-spirited  real  estate  dealers  themselves  ap- 
preciate this  now.  and  they  are  prepared  for  reasonable  and  con- 
structive regulation.  They  would  rather  work  to  a plan,  than  to 
plunge  aimlessly.  They  would  rather  help  to  carry  out  a far-reach- 
ing scheme  where  results  will  be  a permanent  monument  to  their 
labors,  than  to  fret  and  frivol  their  professional  lives  away,  making 
money  by  wild  specu’ation,  but  finding  their  labors,  even  before 
their  death,  largely  to  be  undone. 

A town  plan  will  look  far  into  the  future,  and  give  every  one 
who  sells  land,  or  builds  a house,  who  buys  a home  or  projects  an 
industrial  enterprise,  something  definite  and  comprehensive  to  work 
toward.  It  will  make  each  citizen  feel  that  in  buiMing.for  him- 
self and  his  immediate  dependants  and  associates  he  is  at  the  same 
time  building  for  the  convenience  and  enrichment  of  his  whole 
town  and  its  oncoming  generations. 


Checker-board  vs.  Nature’s  Symmetry 

Most  of  our  towns  are  laid  out  on  the  checker-board  plan.  The 
streets  run  inexorably  at  right  angles  with  each  other,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  provisions  of  nature.  On  many  townsites  of  marvel- 


28 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


ous  natural  beauty  streets  cut  thru  according  to  this  plan  leave 
ghastly  scars  which  can  never  be  effaced* 

This  is  supposed  to  insure  ease  and  directness  in  getting  about. 
On  the  contrary,  it  often  creates  costly  grades,  and  condemns  all 
coming  generations  to  wasteful  locomotion.  The  easy  grade,  fol- 
lowing the  natural  contour  of  the  landscape,  not  only  insures  vastly 
more  beautiful  streets,  but  it  increases  their  economy,  and  efficiency. 

The  haphazard  running  of  streets  along  o’d  cow-paths 
is  objectionable  of  course,  tho  an  old  cow-path  is  likely  to  be 
the  easiest  and  most  direct  course  between  the  two  objectives 
-which  the  cow  had  in  view,  but  intelligent  planning  will  take  all 
considerations,  of  beauty  and  utility  into  account.  Boston,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  laid  out  by  the  cows  cutting  paths  in  the 
homeward  journey'  from  the  “Commons”  on  which  they  all 
pastured,  is  certainly  very  vexing  to  the  visitor.  Even  a life- 
time of  residence  there  does  not  always  supp’y  the  citizens 
with  a ready  knowledge  of  localities  in  that  city. 

On  the  other  hand,  such  vio’ence  upon  nature’s  purposes 
and  endowments  as  that  practiced  in  Seattle,  located  on  the 
majestic  bluffs  overlooking  the  Puget  Sound,  must  seem  to  the 
artist  soul  immeasurably  more  terrible.  When  the  main  portion 
of  that  city  was  laid  out,  the  checker-board  plan  was  all  the 
vogue,  and  the  streets  plowd  thru  the  steepest  precipices 
and  filled  the  deepest  ravines  where  absolutely  necessary,  until 
some  sidewalks  must  be  builded  in  steps,  and  the  roadway  is  next 
to  imposs'ble  for  any  but  a car  hitcht  to  a cable.  Short  of  this 
extreme,  there  are  all  degrees  of  violence  done  to  natural  advan- 
tages in  the  town  "sites  of  our  western  cities.  This  rigid  uni- 
formity is  poor  economy  and  worse  artistry.  A town  plan  even 
now  will  correct  some  of  these  blunders,  and  wi'l  forestall 
their  repetition  in  new"  additions”  being  developt  on  the  out- 
skirts of  every  growing  town. 

Sources  of  Information 

These  are  now  so  numerous  that  no  ambitious  town  need 
blunder  further.  There  are  numerous  books  already  publisht, 
and  others  are  frequently  appearing,  in  which  the  whole  ques- 
tion is  treated  in  detail.  There  are  periodicals,  like  the  National 
Municipal  Review,  and  the  American  City,  which  scarcely  allow 
a number  to  be  issued  without  one  or  more  illuminating  articles 
on  this  subject. 

While  the  University  has  no  department  devoted  exclus- 
ivly  to  tins  service,  yet  members  of  the  staff  will  gladly  corres- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


29 


pond  or  confer  with  those  interested,  and  will  supply  references 
for  the  best  and  fullest  information  obtainable. 

TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 

Inhabitants  of  cities  and  towns  must  eat.  And  their  main 
source  of  food  is  the  farm.  Long  ago  it  was  found  unsatis- 
factory to  depend  upon  slave  labor  to  guarantee  this  absolute 
necessity  of  existence.  This  is  true  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  townsman,  not  less  than  in  consideration  of  the  rights  and 
sentiments  of  the  farmer  himself. 

Especially  under  a democracy  the  only  feasible  relationship 
between  the  producer  of  food  and  the  consumer  is  one  of 
partnership.  If  either  assumes  the  upper  hand,  and  lords  it 
over  the  other,  the  interests  of  both  ultimate’y  suffer. 

Many  of  the  more  intimate  food  demands  of  a town  or  city 
attach  to  the  region  immediately  contiguous.  This  is  less  true 
than  it  was  once.  Occasionally  cities  are  now  built  in  regions 
which  supply  little  or  none  of  their  food.  But  this  method  is 
wasteful,  or  at  least  expensive.  Where  it  is  unnecessary  that 
food  should  be  hauld  long  distances,  there  is  of  course  great 
waste  in  going  afield. 

Every  consideration  of  economy  prompts  a city  or  town  for 
its  own  sake  to  cultivate  the  fields  immediately  adjoining  for  all 
the  food  supply  which  it  is  capable  of  producing.  This  no 
town  or  city  can  have  done  by  a gang  of  slaves,  in  these  demo- 
cratic days,  nor  can  it  afford  even  remotely  to  approximate  that 
program  by  arbitrary  methods  of  controling  markets  and  ex- 
change, if  it  would  build  a stable  civilization. 

Yet  all  over  the  United  States  there  have  developt  deep 
seated  resentments  among  the  agricultural  classes,  in  the  belief 
that  they  are  being  ground  down  and  preyd  upon  by  arbitrary 
methods  practist  by  the  towns  and  cities. 

Our  civilization  is  sorely  torn  by  class  differences.  The 
worst  are  generally  assumed  to  be  those  which  divide  capital 
and  labor  in  the  manufacturing  field.  But  the  future  holds  no 
more  serious  disagreements  than  those  between  the  agricultural 
population  and  the  town  and  city  dwellers,  if  sentiments  are 
permitted  to  run  on  in  their  present  tendencies  and  swell  to  the 
volume  they  threaten. 

In  community  building  no  detail  is,  taking  wide  sections  of 
the  country  thru,  more  vital  than  the  establishment  of  just  and 
cordial  relations  between  the  town  and  its  adjoining  agricultural 


30  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

population.  There  are  thousands  of  towns  whose  only  visible 
means  of  support  is  their  service  as  middlemen  between  the  far- 
mer and  his  market.  The  support  of  these  towns  in  their  present 
re’ative  affluence  is  believed  by  an  increasing  proportion  of  the 
agricultural  population  to  be  a wasteful  draft  upon  agricultural 
production. 

Such  movements  as  the  Non-Partisan  League  in  the  North- 
west are  symptomatic.  The  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  contro- 
versy between  the  farmers  and  those  whom  they  esteem  their 
oppressors  are  too  large  a question  for  discussion  here.  The 
fact  that  the  controversy  has  become  so  bitter,  and  the  agricul- 
tural unrest  is  so  widespread,  is  the  outstanding  consideration. 
The  community  builder  is  not  so  eager  to  fix  blame  and  exact 
punishment,  as  to  discover  fundamental  causes,  and  remove 
those  which  are  poisoning  social  life.  There  is  poison  getting 
into  the  body  social  at  this  point.  Better  relations  must  be 
maintained  between  town  and  country,  if  our  society  is  to  be  in 
health. 

Partnership  in  Institutions 

Life  is  growing  more  and  more  complicated.  Residence  in 
the  open  country  more  and  more  conspicuously  fails  to  afford 
all  the  necessities  of- social  intercourse.  The  farmer  is  becoming 
more  rather  than  less  dependent  upon  the  town.  The  Ameri- 
can farmer,  indeed,  is  almost  a’one  in  attempting  to  live  in  the 
open  upon  his  fields.  In  modern  times  this  has  never  been  the 
order  in  the  older  countrr’es  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

More  and  more  the  vital  institutions  of  the  farmer’s  social 
life  are  in  the  town  and  city.  His  markets  are  there,  and  there 
are  the  media  of  exchange.  Most  of  the  cultural  institutions  are 
there,  also. 

He  must  have  his  full  rights  and  assume  his  full  duties  in 
the  control  of  these  institutions,  if  our  democracy  is  to  be  real. 
The  banks  must  be  his  in  a more  real  sense  than  that  their 
windows  are  lettered  “Farmer”  or  “Agricultural.”  In  large 
part  the  farmer  is  in  the  grip  of  financial  powers  whose  pro- 
cesses he  only  vaguely  understands  and  over  whose  policies 
and  methods  he  has  no  control  whatever. 

He  is  crowded  out  of  the  business  and  social  life  even  more 
effectually,  as  a rule,  except  as  he  is  claimd  as  customer  in  stores 
which  are  arbitrarily  conducted  to  profiteer  upon  his  trade.  And 
when  he  rebels  against  the  prices  charged  and  the  treatment 
accorded,  yielding  to  the  seductions  of  the  mail  order  house,  he 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


31 


finds  his  defection  from  the  local  merchant  bitterly  resented, 
and  the  local  paper  filld  with  lectures  rebuking  him  for  his 
dis’oyalty. 

Other  of  the  town  institutions  patronize  or  snub  him,  but 
rarely  include  him  on  a basis  of  common  citizenship.  In  civil 
affairs  the  close  town  corporation  shuts  him  out.  He  resides 
beyond  the  “city  limits.” 

Aga'n,  we  are  not  attempting  to  fix  the  blame.  Perhaps 
this  is  partly  the  farmer’s  fault,  and  partly  the  townsman’s.  Per- 
haps it  is  that  of  one  more  than  that  of  the  other.  The  important 
consideration  here  is  that  this  condition  must  be  corrected. 
Since  the  control  of  social,  financial  and  business  institutions 
is  now  so  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  townsman,  it  is  manifestly 
his  prime  responsibility  to  correct  the  conditions.  This  he  can- 
not do  simply  by  cajoling  the  farmer,  patronizing  him  more 
effusively,  advertising  the  goods  in  his  stores  more  aggressively, 
throwing  out  here  and  there  sops  to  the  farmer’s  pride,  pulling 
the  wool  further  down  over  his  eyes,  while  all  the  time  con- 
firming more  surely  an  arbitrary  control  over  the  institutions 
upon  which  the  agricultural  population  depends. 

This  policy  will  provd  successful  only  in  the  short  run,  and 
the  run  is  likely  to  be  very  short  indeed.  The  situation  demands 
the  establishment  of  a partnership.  How  far  this  can  be  ac- 
complish! under  present  methods  of  administration  is  a question 
to  be  tested.  Perhaps  radica1  re-adjustment  must  be  made  in 
the  town’s  method  of  doing  things,  in  the  conduct  of  business, 
in  the  building  and  conduct  of  its  social  institutions.  Almost 
any  degree  of  adjustment  to  cure  the  evil  would  be  wise.  Pres- 
ent conditions  and  tendencies  cannot  be  continued;  that  is  plain. 

Merchandizing 

The  farmer,  his  wife  and  children,  are  entitld  to  the  best 
going  in  both  the  substance  and  methods  of  trade.  They  are  not 
getting  it  now,  and  they  know  they  are  not  getting  it.  Nor 
will  they  ever  get  that  to  which  they  are  entitld  so  long  as  they 
are  servd  by  two,  ten,  twenty,  forty,  narrow-minded,  spitefully 
compet'ng  tradesmen,  with  meager  stocks  of  goods,  uncouthly 
displayed,  and  loaded  down  with  the  enormous  and  entirely 
overhead  costs  of  this  short-sighted  program.  Most  towns  have 
far  too  many  stores,  and  the  entire  lack  of  harmony  and  co- 
operation in  the  conduct  of  their  businesses  worse  than  suicidal. 

Numerous  towns  of  this  and  neighboring  states  still  lack  any 


32 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


formal  rn  cyans  of  systematic  cooperation.  A new  man  comes  to 
town  and  adds  a new  business  where  it  is  already  overdone.  He 
hopes  by  new  methods  and  attractions  to  win  support.  The  old 
merchants  have  no  protection  but  to  vie  with  the  newcomer  and 
if  possib’e  beat  him  at  his  own  game.  This  is  sometimes  a good 
thing  for  a town,  especially  when  the  old  merchants  have  got 
into  the  ruts.  But  the  inevitable  tendency  of  overdoing  busi- 
ness in  a town  is  to  raise  the  prices  to  where  all  can  live  and 
profit  and  the  buying  must  carry  the  unecessary  burden. 

Under  the  stress  of  competition  merchants  are  tempted  to 
resort  to  methods  which  are  unethical  and  anti-social;  and  thus 
competition  becomes  a species  of  war,  from  which  all  the  highest 
interests  of  the  community  suffer.  Either  by  voluntary  action 
of  the  competitors  or  by  community  pressure  the  sel’ing  of  the 
necessities  of  life  should  be  taken  out  of  the  category  of  warfare, 
and  be  conceivd  and  operated  as  a community  affair. 

Varied  Town  Industries 

Quite  as  essential  to  the  solution  of  this  problem  is  the 
cultivation  in  most  towns  of  more  and  more  varied  industries. 
The  town  population  is  feeding  off  the  farmer  to  far  too  large  an 
extent.  The  townsman  is  not  contributing  his  share  to  the  com- 
mon enterprise.  The  banking  and  merchandizing  and  exchange 
service  he  is  rendering  as  a middleman  is  not  worth  all  it  costs 
to  the  farmer.  Too  large  a popu’ation  is  being  supported  in  the 
towns  on  the  proceeds  of  the  idlers  on  the  street  corners,  and 
many  other  idlers  who  are  too  dignified  to  spend  their  useless 
hours  in  such  open  profligacy. 

To  say  that  most  of  these  towns  preying  off  the  farmer  are 
largely  made  up  of  retired  farmers  and  their  familr’es  is  simply 
to  state  a fact.  It  does  not  help  to  solve  the  problem  or  build 
up  a more  efficient  and  se’f-respecting  community. 

The  permanent  cure  is  the  building  up  of  industries  in  the 
towns.  Many  villages,  and  even  towns  whose  populations  run 
far  into  the  hundreds  or  early  thousands,  embrace  no  industrial 
enterprises  whatever  except  those  which  depend  absolutely  upon 
the  farmer’s  activities.  The  town  industries  should  naturally 
grow  out  of  the  resources  closest  at  hand.  They  should  begin 
with  converting  the  farmer’s  raw  produce  into  manufactures.  But 
the  town  energies  should  be  employd.  The  population  of  the 
town  should  not  be  content  to  receive  the  farmer’s  produce,  load 
it  on  railroad  cars  in  bulk  and  raw,  and  then  go  home  to  snooze. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


•33 


Much  manufacturing  has  been  so  highly  standardized  and 
centralized  in  enormous  plants,  that  small  factories  for  the  pro- 
duction of  those  particular  commodities  are  doomd  to  failure 
on  an  open  market.  But  there  are  other  industries  which  are 
incapable  of  such  standardization  and  centralization.  In  these 
the  sma’l  town  can  permanently  hold  its  own,  with  its  advantages 
of  proxim'ty  to  the  raw  materials. 

Furthermore,  even  in  the  industries  now  centralized,  a partic- 
ular town  can  successfully  meet  all  competition  by  concentrat- 
ing upon  a particular  industry.  Occasionally  the  investigator 
stumbles  upon  a town  which  boasts  the  “largest  factory  in  the 
world”  of  its  particular  type  and  devoted  to  its  particular 
manufacture.  That  speciality  has  become  the  community’s  pas- 
sion, and  every  citizen  more  or  less  directly  contributes  a share 
to  the  labor,  and  shares  in  the  pride  of  the  common  achievement. 

The  will  will  find  the  way,  in  any  case.  And  the  way  must 
be  found.  The  town  populations  astride  the  back  of  the  farmer 
must  get  off,  and  produce  in  their  own  behalf  and  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  common  life. 

School  and  Church 

It  may  seem  odd  to  many  observers  that  the  rapid  strides 
made  of  late  in  the  improvements  of  transportation,  the  coming 
of  the  automobile  and  the  building  of  good  roads,  should  have 
rooted  the  school  more  deeply  in  the  rural  soil  and,  at  the  same 
time,  have  uprooted  and  led  to  the  decay  of  the  rural  church.  In 
certain  of  the  states  of  the  older  mr'ddle  west  hundreds  of  rural 
church  buildings  have  been  abandond,  and  the  organizations 
have  disappeard  or  remain  largely  on  paper.  In  those  same 
states  the  rural  one-room  schoolhouse  has  likewise  largely  dis- 
appeared, but  the  centralized  rural  elementary  school  has  taken 
the  place,  and  the  school  system  has  developt  the  rural  high 
school,  fully  equipt  secondary  institutions  being  frequently 
located  on  the  rural  highway,  mi’es  from  any  town. 

The  reasons  for  this  are  beside  the  present  point.  There 
may  be  sharp  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  more  determina- 
tive causes.  The  fact  is  clear  that  improved  transportation  facili- 
ties are  profoundly  affecting  the  cultural  institutions  of  the 
town  and  country. 

Centralized  schools,  designd  to  serve  wide  areas  of  farming 
territory  are  often  located  in  the  towns.  But  unless  they  lay 
out  their  curriculum  so  as  to  give  the  proper  prominence  to 


34  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

agriculture,  they  will  only  aggravate  the  present  estrangement. 
The  farmer  has  for  long  been  in  the  way  of  resenting  the  man- 
ner in  which  town  schools  alienate  the  young  from  the  farm. 
He  does  not  fancy  sending  his  sons  and  daughters  to  schools 
which  teach  them  either  by  precept  or  by  implications  to  despise 
the  parents’  calling, — unless  he  is  that  type  of  farmer  who  de- 
spises his  own  calling,  and  strives  at  the  earliest  date  possible 
to  retire  from  its  rigors  and  shake  its  dust  from  his  feet.  That 
sort  of  farmer  has  done  the  most  to  make  the  town  the  parasite 
it  now  too  often  is. 

The  movement  to  get  the  schools  designd  to  serve  the  rural 
population  out  into  the  country  will  doubtless  gain  stronger 
head  still.  Unless  the  town  is  rural-minded,  and  wishes  to  con- 
tinue rural-minded,  it  must  fail  to  furnish  the  kind  of  education 
which  the  whole-sould  farmer  demands  for  his  children.  He 
will  more  and  more  insist  that  the  open  country  shall  furnish 
the  atmosphere  for  both  elementary  and  secondary  education. 

The  farmer’s  church  apparently  introduces  another  problem. 
The  fact  seems  clear  that  the  rural  church  is  in  decay.  All  will 
agree  that  only  a great  amount  of  centralization  will  save  it. 
Whether  this  tendency  will  locate  the  church  in  the  town  or  in 
the  country  is  perhaps  not  clear.  Perhaps  the  farmer  and  the 
townsman  do  not  need  separate  institutions  for  the  expression 
of  their  religion,  as  they  apparently  do  for  the  elementary  and 
secondary  education  of  their  children,  and  the  automobile  speed- 
ing along  good  roads  may  render  its  best  service  to  religion  by 
carrying  the  farmer  and  his  family  to  town  for  church.  So  far 
it  does  not  appear  that  the  decay  of  the  church  in  the  open 
country  has  strengthend  the  town  church.  It  also  has  weakend 
in  numerous  cases.  There  are  manifestly  causes  at  work  here 
beyond  the  range  of  the  present  discussion.  It  only  remains  to 
say  that  if  the  town  church  is  to  serve  the  rural  population  it 
must  be,  as  in  the  case  of  all  other  institutions,  on  a partnership 
basis.  The  church  must  be  as  much  the  farmer’s  as  the  towns- 
man’s. The  former  must  not  be  led  to  feel  that  he  is  welcomed 
as  a guest,  no  matter  how  obsequiously  or  genuinely;  he  must 
be  included  as  a proprietor,  a member  in  full  standing  and  with 
full  powers. 

Community  Housekeeping  in  Towns 

The  alienation  of  the  farmer,  his  defection  from  the  local  mer- 
chant, and  his  general  resentment  of  his  treatment  by  the  town 
has  stird  many  towns  to  “do  something  about  it.”  They  have 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


35 


grown  very  effusive  in  their  welcome  to  these  “Guests  in  our 
midst."  They  have  established  rest-rooms  for  the  farmer’s 
wife  and  children  when  they  come  shopping.  They  have  pro- 
vided hitching  racks  for  the  farmer’s  team  and  parking  grounds 
for  his  auto.  They  set  up  signs  on  the  streets  and  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  town  with  a welcome  as  noisy  as  flaming  bill 
boards  can  make. 

This  is  believed  to  be  all  to  the  good,  and  much  of  it  is 
gratifying  as  betokening  a chastend  sense  of  remissness  on  the 
part  of  the  town  in  the  past.  But  the  impression  conveyd  by 
much  of  this  activity  is  like  that  of  an  effusively  hospitable 
housewife,  who  as  much  as  says,  “I  am  very  proud  of  my  good 
housekeeping,  and  I would  dearly  love  to  have  you  come  and  visit 
me,  so  that  you  can  flatter  my  pride  by  seeing  for  yourself.” 
It  is  doubtful  if  this  attitude  and  this  particular  line  of  activity 
on  the  part  of  a town  can  go  far  toward  solving  the  serious 
problem  with  which  we  are  here  dealing. 

By  some  means  the  relations  of  farmer  and  townsman  must 
be  got  off  the  basis  of  patronage,  if  the  community  of  interest 
inherent  in  their  economic  relations  is  to  be  genuinely  exprest 
socially.  Perhaps  it  is  too  much  to  expect  or  to  hope  that  the 
civil  organization  shall  be  so  reshaped  as  to  establish  a common 
basis  of  citizenship.  Perhaps  the  farmer  is  quite  as  little  pre- 
pared for  that  as  is  the  townsman.  But  in  the  numerous  other 
relations  a more  genuine  partnership  can  be  establisht,  than  pre- 
vails in  mbst  regions. 

Whatever  approach  is  agreed  upon  will  involve  mutual  obli- 
gations. Our  discussion  has  implied  that  the  initiative  must 
come  largely  from  the  town.  It  must,  for  the  reason  that  the 
town  is  now  so  largely  in  control  of  the  social  forces  and 
institutions  involved.  But  if  the  farmer  wishes  to  cease  to  be 
a guest  or  an  object  of  prey  in  the  town,  and  to  belong  as  a part 
of  the  community,  he  must  be  prepared  to  do  his  part,  assume 
his  share  of  the  burdens,  and  make  the  common  institutions 
his  own  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

Every  community  which  is  addressing  itself  intelligently  and 
with  conscientious  devotion  to  this  problem  is  rendering  a great 
service  to  bur  whole  American  civilization.  Now  that  the 
population  is  about  evenly  divided  between  city  and  country,  it 
must  not  be  lined  up  in  two  equally  powerful,  equally  selfish, 
equally  unsympathetic  hosts,  bent  upon  “fighting  it  out,”  each 
in  its  own  interests,  in  disregard  of  the  sentiments  and  interests 


36 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


of  the  other.  That  spells  defeat  and  disaster  for  both  hosts,  and 
the  retardation  or  wreck  of  their  common  civilization. 

THE  CIVIL  ORGANIZATION— CITY  MANAGER 

City  government  has  for  a long  time  been  in  a bad  way  in 
the  United  States.  Our  most  conservative  publicists  have  not 
hesitated  to  say  that  it  is  the  worst  in  the  civilized  world.  There 
has  been  improvement  in  late  years,  especially  in  certain  spots. 
There  is  large  room  for  more  everywhere. 

A vast  new  library  is  accumulating,  devoted  to  this  subject. 
There  are  valuable  periodical  whose  editorial  and  contributing 
staff  are  giving  the  subject  exhaustive  and  expert  study.  Experi- 
ments in  the  various  parts  of  the  country  are  being  made  and 
reported  with  great  faithfulness  to  the  facts  and  to  the  public 
serv’ce.  There  is  thus  little  excuse  for  any  community  to  flounder 
in  ignorance  and  inefficiency  because  proper  guidance  cannot 
easily  be  had. 

The  twin  evils  which  hold  our  communities  back  are  the 
indifference  of  the  citizenship,  and  zeal  for  the  present  order  on 
the  part  of  those  to  whose  personal  interest  the  present  methods 
work. 

Aside  from  these  interested  politicians,  there  Are  many  con- 
servative and  high-minded  citizens  who  believe  on  genera1  prin- 
ciples that  the- surest  cure  for  social  evils  is  to  utilize  more  con- 
scientiously the  existing  machinery  of  administration.  The 
f athers  bu  It  up  our  prevai  ing  mayor-council  plan,’*  and  we  can 
do  no  better  than  to  make  it  work,  acknowledge  its  incidental 
weaknesses,  but  making  the  most  of  what  must  be  its  high  vir- 
tues in  deference  to  the  fathers’  high  wisdom. 

On  the  other  hand,  an  increasing  proportion  of  thoughtful 
citizens  are  convinced  with  an  American  publicist  of  a generation 
or  two  ago,  that  “new  occasions  teach  new  duties”,  and  that 
“t'me  makes  ancient  good  uncouth”.  There  would-  certauily 
seem  much  which  is  “uncouth”  and  lumbering  in  the  prevailing 
mayor-council  method  of  administering  city  and  town  affairs. 

The  break  came  first  with  the  Commission  Form  of  city 
government,  inaugurated  almost  by  accident-  in  Galveston  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  Few  political  reforms  have 
swept  so  rapidly  and  widely  thru  this  country.  Hundreds  of 
cities,  large  and  small,  soon  adopted  the  new  plan. 

But,  like  most  such  hastily  conceived  schemes,  serious  de- 
fects quickly  developt.  No  authorities  now  recommend  the  orig- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


37 


inal  commission  form.  It  has  abolisht  certain  of  the  evils  in- 
herent in  the  old  form,  with  its  confusing  long  ballot,  its  cor- 
ruption-breeding checks  and  ba’ances,  and  its  tendency  to  make 
public  office  the  plum  of  popular  favorites  and  professional  poli- 
t'cians.  But  the  commission  plan  in  its  original  form  has  not 
supplied  that  unity  of  administration  which  efficiency  impera- 
tively demands. 

Oklahoma  has  itself  had  distressing  demonstrations  of  the 
deadlock  which  may  at  any  time  occur  between  members  of 
the  commission,  when  each  may  be  guided  by  self-interest  or  a 
desire  to  make  political  capita1.  The  plan  prov’des  for  no  um- 
pire or  unifying  authority  in  the  case  of  such  a deadlock. 

Commission  Plan  Modified 

The  commission  plan  is  now  being  transformd  as  rapidly 
as  possible  by  the  addition  of  an  officer  known  as  the  City  Mana- 
ger, and  by  the  radical  alteration  of  the  status  and  the  duties  of 
the  members  of  the  commission.  The  former  insures  uir’ty  of 
administration;  the  latter  avoids  interference  from  the  members 
of  the  commission,  and  encourages  the  choice  of  the  commission 
on  political  grounds. 

The  offginal  commission  form  as  much  as  announced  that 
politics  are  permanently  adjournd  in  the  town  or  city  adopting 
the  plan.  But  in  a democracy  politics  decline  to  accept  perma- 
nent or  even  protracted  adjournment.  Citizens  cannot  demit  their 
polit'cal  responsibilities.  Towns  and  cities  and  states  and  na- 
tions cannot  be  run  without  politics.  Business  men,  a while  back, 
were  inclined  to  scorn  politics  as  an  inherently  pernicious  and 
'entirely  unnccesary  resort.  It  was  largely  under  .then-  leader- 
ship that  the  original  commission  form  gaind  such  speedy  and 
wide  vogue.  They  have  learnd  several  things  since,  and  have 
been  the  means  of  teaching  our  communities  several  things. 
Business  is  itself  learning  that  even  its  own  affairs  cannot  be 
divorced  from  the  will  of  the  whole  community  and  from  the 
media  by  which  that  will  is  exprest. 

Originally  the  members  of  the  commission  were  elected  to 
"attend  to  business”,  and  were  expected  to  “let  politics  alone”. 
In  the  more  recent  plan  the  members  of  the  commission  are 
elected  for  political  purposes  and  are  expected  to  let  the  business 
of  administering  the  city’s  affairs  alone.  At  first  the  commis- 
sioners were  heads  of  departments  of  administration.  Now  they 
are  forbidden  to  meddle  in  the  details  of  administration.  Formerly 


38 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


each  commissioner  was  supposed  to  be  chosen  because  of  his 
special  ability  as  a business  administrator.  As  a matter  of  actual 
experience,  the  electorate  did  not  show  itself  wise  enough  and 
free  enough  from  political  considerations  to  select  that  type  of 
commissioner.  In  the  new  form  he  is  chosen  because  of  his 
capacity  to  reflect  the  sentiments  and  desired  policies  of  the 
citizens  who  elect  him. 

In  the  new  form  as  in  the  old  the  persistent  attempt  is 
wisely  made  to  divorce  local  from  national  politics. 

The  Place  of  the  City  Manager 

This  new  officer  takes  over  all  responsibility  and  authority 
for  the  day-by-day  administration  of  the  city’s  or  town’s  busi- 
ness. The  commission  elects  him,  and  has  the  right  to  remove 
him  at  any  time.  Eut  they  do  not  have  the  right  to  take  details 
or  any  department  of  the  administration  out  of  his  hands.  The 
only  way  to  interfere  with  his  conduct  of  affairs  is  to  remove 
him.  Thus  recognition  is  made  of  the  twofo’d  character  of  civil 
administration.  In  the  formation  of  policies  and  programs  the 
commission  is  supreme,  and  the  manager  has  no  authority  what- 
ever. In  administering  the  details  of  policies  and  programs  al- 
ready establisht  the  manager  is  supreme,  and  the  commission  is 
not  permitted  to  interfere  in  any  detail. 

Usually  certain  departments,  like  the  schools  and  the  courts, 
are  not  included  in  the  city  manager’s  field  of  administration. 
His  province  is  that  of  the  public  utilities  and  the  routine  busi- 
ness of  the  town  or  city,  including  police  and  fire  departments, 
and  all  measures  for  public  health  and  public  safety. 

The  City  Manager  and  Small  Centers 

It  is  still  generally  believed  that  the  overhead  expense  of 
the  city  manager,  office  expenditures  and  a salary  adequate  to 
secure  a capable  man,  would  be  excessive  for  a town  or  small 
city.  This  impression  is  now  being  dissipated  by  the  experience 
of  centers  of  two  thousand  and  less,  where  the  plan  is  demon- 
strating its  economy.  This  demonstration  is  likely  to  be  far 
more  complete  during  the  next  few  years.  A population  of  as 
few  as  one  thousand  would  seem  to  have  numerous  enough  and 
important  enough  joint  interests  to  justify  them  in  paying  a 
very  creditable  salary  to  one  traind  and  capable  of  administering 
these  affairs. 

There  is  no  limit  to  the  business  which  such  a community 
may  conduct  in  common,  short  of  their  desires  to  economize  by 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


39 


joint  activity.  A common  light  and  water  supply  are  now  con- 
sidered essential  in  a progressive  community.  A central,  heat- 
ing plant  is  becoming  common,  and  is  proving  a great,  economy 
where  the  homes  are  not  too  widely  scattered  The  care  of  street 
and  roadways,  protection  of  life  and  property,  and  even  the  close 
regulation  or  operation  of  supply  stores  under  community  aus- 
pices, are  essential  or  are  open  questions  in  many  communities. 
Communities  are  growing  larger  under  the  consciousness  that 
these  benefits  can  be  best  insured  by  larger  groups.  And  these 
common  activities  are  so  multiplying  that  smaller  communities 
are  finding  a more  highly  organized  administration  beneficial. 
To  do  all  which  has  been  suggested  above,  and  do  it  well,  for 
even  a thousand  people,  would  tax  the  abilities  of  a high  class 
man  and  corps  of  assistants.  It  would  be  a real  economy  tb 
employ  such  a man  as  manager. 

The  City  Manager  and  Democracy 

The  impression  has  gaind  considerable  currency  that  the 
city  manager  is  a little  czar  or  autocrat,  that  a town  turns  itself 
over  to  him  to  be  ruled  by  his  arbitrary  will.  Nothing  could 
be  farther  from  the  principle  designd  to  control  his  office  or 
from  the  facts  of  experience  under  this  plan.  The  highest  com- 
mendation of  the  Commission-Manager  plan  of  town  or  city 
government  is  its  democracy,  and  its  strict  responsibility  to  the 
community. 

The  manager  is  appointed  by  the  commission,  and  may  be 
at  any  time  removed  by  the  commission.  Ordinarily  this  power 
is  unlimited,  the  commission  not  being  required  to  “serve  notice” 
nor  to  “show  cause.”  Yet  the  freedom  of  the  manager  in  detail 
is  not  sacrificed,  for  the  commission  has  no  power  to  interfere  in 
details.  Only  when  his  administration  is  on  the  whole  of  such 
a character  as  to  jeopardize  the  interests  of  the  community  is 
he  removed.  He  must  be  responsive  to  the  needs  and  desires  of 
the  citizens  all  the  time,  yet  he  is  not  pulled  and  hauld  this  way 
and  that,  compeld  to  trim  and  sacrifice  the  good  of  the  whole  to 
the  whim  of  an  influential  individual  citizen  or  a powerful  po'i- 
tician. 

The  commission  is  expressly  chosen  to  represent  sentiment, 
opinion,  policies  and  laws.  The  kind  of  persons  capable  of  doing 
this  can  be  safely  chosen,  for  skill  in  administration  is  not  ex- 
pected of  them.  They  need  not  be  citizens  of  independent  for- 
tune, for  the  duties  are  such  as  any  citizen  may  perform  in  con- 


40 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


ncction  with  his  business  or  other  employment.  They  make 
the  laws;  the  manager  has  no  power  whatever  to  do  that.  His 
business  is  efficiently  and  in  even  justice  to  administer  the  laws 
and  prosecute  the  policies  laid  down  for  him  thru  this  medium 
which  directly  expresses  the  will  of  the  community. 

The  Manager  and  Politics 

The  theory  of  the  manager’s  office  and  the  limited  experi- 
ence so  far  avai’able  has  been  already  set  forth.  It  is  often  pre- 
dicted that  as  the  plan  is  more  fully  establisht  city  and  town 
elections  will  be  made  to  turn  on  the  personality  of  a manager. 
Candidates  for  the  commission  will  run  on  a platform  of  support 
or  non-support  of  a manager  at  the  time  in  office,  just  as  school 
board  elections  have  sometimes  turned  upon  the  continuance 
or  non-continuance  in  office  of  a particular  school  superintendent. 

Predictions  are  predictions,  and  have  value  only  as  likeli- 
hood is  establisht  by  known  facts  and  tendencies.  Perhaps  this 
will  happen  in  certain  cases.  Even  if  it  does,  the  method 
would  not  therefore  be  conclusively  discounted.  Nobody 
thinks  of  taking  the  election  of  the  school  superintendent  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  school  board,  because  the  superintendent  some- 
times domineers  and  p’ays  politics.  We  should  certainly  be  in 
a worse  muddle  if  the  office  of  school  superintendent  were  thrown 
into  the  political  scramble  and  made  the  prey  of  a designing 
politician,  irrespective  of  his  technical  qualifications. 

But  in  the  case  of  the  city  manager  there  would  seem  much 
less  cause  to  fear  this  result  than  in  that  of  the  school  superin- 
tendent. The  very  intimacy  and  comprehensiveness  of  the  con- 
tacts of  the  city  manager  with  all  the  people  is  a safeguard. 
Once  haveing  tasted  the  fruits  of  a highly  efficient  administra- 
tion of  the  public  utilities  under  a well-trained  and  thoroly  com- 
petent administrator,  the  citizens  will  think  a thousand  times  be- 
fore they  will  make  the  office  the  football  or  the  grab-bag  of 
the  po'itical  scramble.  The  effects  strike  too  close  home. 

On  the  other  hand,  lamentable  as  the  fact  is,  citizens  have 
not  uniformly  felt  the  same  concern  over  school  interests. 
Voters  do  not  go  to  school;  they  send  their  children.  Voters  and 
especially  active  politicians  often  have  no  children  of  school  age, 
and  it  becomes  easier  for  them  to  use  school  perquisites  to  reward 
favorites,  without  serious  regard  to  educational  values.  The  City 
manager  and  his  administration  touch  every  citizen  all  the  time. 
Every  body  cares,  or  rough  experience  will  make  him  care. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


41 


Studying  the  Problem 

The  City-Manager  plan  is  not  the  last  word.  There  is  some- 
thing better  to  follow.  It  seems  to  be  the  best  so  far,  at  least 
for  certain  types  of  communities. 

It  would  be  a great  mistake  for  any  community  to  adopt 
this  plan  or  any  other  without  knowing  thoroly  we’l  what  it  is 
about.  The  city  manager  will  certainly  not  succeed  in  a com- 
munity which  has  gone  blindly  into  the  plan,  and  has  supposed 
that  a device  has  been  discovered  to  cure  all  the  evils  and  avoid 
all  the  perils  of  civil  government.  Every  community  owes  it  to 
itself  to  go  into  the  business  thoroly,  and  study  the  commission- 
manager  plan,  not  committed  in  advance  to  its  adoption,  but 
to  find  out  whether  it  wishes  to  adopt  it.  Such  study  will  have 
to  begin  with  a group  of  citizens,  a community  council,  or  the 
chamber  of  commerce,  or  the  Rotary  Club,  or  a civic  club.  After 
this  group  has  thoroly  educated  itself,  its  more  difficult  busi- 
ness is  to  educate  the  entire  community. 

New  methods  are  deve’oping  all  the  time.  At  least  three 
American  cities  have  adopted  and  are  operating  the  plan  of 
proportional  representation  in  elections.  This  deserves  the  study 
of  all  progressive  communities. 

How  far  should  public  utilities  be  administerd  by  private 
corporations  under  public  regulation,  and  how  far  should  they 
be  publicly  ownd  and  administerd?  This  question  has  to  be  set- 
tled by  each  community  for  itself.  The  experience  of  no  other 
will  be  an  infallible  guide.  Each  plan  succeeds  and  each  plan 
fails,  under  certain  conditions. 

What  should  be  esteemd  public  utilities?  Where  does  the 
zone  permanently  reservd  for  uncontrold  private  initiative  stop, 
and  where  shou'd  public  ownership  and  operation  begin?  How 
wide  should  be  the  zone  of  public  regulation  and  private  owner- 
ship lying  between  the  two  extremes  of  private  and  public  in- 
terests? 

Practical  questions  are  too  numerous  even  to  state  here. 
Any  one  can  see  that  they  are  too  many  and  too  important  to  be 
left  to  chance  decisions  or  the  blundering  of  ignorant  citizenship. 
The  need  for  adult  education  recommended  under  other  sections 
of  this  bulletin  is  enormously  emphasized  here.  The  reason  so 
many  of  our  communities  flounder  hope’essly  in  corrupt  and 
inefficient  administration  of  their  affairs  is  because  even  the  most 
enlightened  citizens  are  so  profoundly  ignorant,  and  those  who 


42 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


do  know  have  not  the  patience  and  public  spirit  to  see  that  their 
fellow-citizens  find  out. 

The  literature  to  furnish  a liberal  education  in  any  of  the 
fields  here  toucht  upon  or  suggested  is  available  for  any  who  will 
seek.  While  the  University  has  not  research  departments  cover- 
ing all,  inquiries  can  always  be  referd  to  the  best  sources  for 
information.  Correspondence  is  invited,  and  the  utmost  service 
possible  will  be  renderd  in  helping  communities  to  “get  wise” 
in  matters  and  methods  of  civil  administration,  and  to  realize 
upon  their  learning  practical  results. 

PUBLIC  HEALTH 

The  public  health  is  as  much  an  affair  of  the  engineer  as 
of  the  physician.  “An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a pound  of 
cure.”  The  physician  realize  this  thoroly  well,  and  is  prepared  to 
act  upon  it  when  our  conventions  will  permit  him  to  do  so. 
The, business  of  keeping  people  in  health  is  still  very  much  upon 
an  individualistic  basis,  and  the. rank  and  file  of  the  citizenship 
are  perhaps  even  more  disposed  to  keep  it  on  that  basis  than 
are  the  professional  medical  men.  People  would  much  rather 
run  to  a doctor  to  patch  them  up  after  they  are  injured  by  dis- 
ease or' neglect,  paying  a large  fee  for  the  service,  than  to  spend 
much  smaller  sums  in  taxes  to  advance  measures  of  public  sani- 
tation and  popular  education  in  preventive  medicine. 

But  this  short-sighted  policy  must  pass.  It  is  far  toward 
the  way  of  being  laid  aside  by  numerous  progressive  communi- 
ties. 

In  the  Schools 

. Where  a community  has  already  begun  a program  of  public 
health  the  best  way  is  to  go  on  from  where  it  has  arrived. 
Where  a community  must  begin  de  novo,  the  place  to  start  is  in 
the  schools.  A regular  system  of  inspection  should  be  inau- 
gurated, and  a traind  nurse  should  be  employd  for  full  time  ser- 
vice. It  has  now  been  clearly  demonstrated  that  most  ca§es  of 
backwardness  among  school  pupils  are  due  to  preventable  phys- 
ical ailments.  Often  these  are  readily  corrected.  Sometimes 
they  are  directly  caused  by  poorly  ventilated,  incorrectly  lighted, 
or  improperly  located  school  buildings. 

The  step  is  not  revolutionary,  and  will  not  seem  so  to  the 
most  conservative  or  reactionary  citizens.  Those  more  ambitious 
may  be  assured  that  under  proper  management  it  will  lead  on 
to  other  and  longer  steps.  Causes  of  physical  disability  dis- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


43 


covered  in  the  school  are  often  directly  traced  to  the  home,  and 
the  nurfee’s  business  is  to  find  them,  wherever  they  are,  when  their 
results  appear  in  the  school  children.  An  active,  wide-awake 
nurse,  even  in  a relatively  small  town,  will  soon  demonstrate  that 
her  hands  are  too  full,  and  other  steps  by  way  of  safeguarding 
the  public  health  will  follow. 

The  initial  expense  is  that  of  her  salary  and  meager  equip- 
ment. If  funds  cannot  be  secured  at  first  for  the  employment  of 
a physician  for  medical  inspection,  the  work  can  be  shared  at  a 
reduced  expense  by  the  regular  practitioners  of  the  community. 
Their  interest  and  support  of  the  plan  is  most  desirable,  if  not 
essential,  in  any  case.  They  can  “block  the  game”  if  they  are  so 
disposed.  Rarely  are  they  disposed.  On  the  contrary,  self-in- 
terest as  well  as  public  spirit  enlists  their  support  to  a plan  which 
induces  parents  to  look  to  their  children’s  incipient  ailments. 
Any  self-respecting  physician  would  rather  devote  his  expert 
knowledge  to  a bringing  on  a new  generation,  straight  and  sound, 
than  to  wear  himself  out  upon  the  old  wrecks  of  early  neglects 
and  excesses. 

Volunteer  Support 

Public  health  measures  almost  invariably  begin  in  volunteer 
effort.  A small  organization  is  formd,  a little  money  is  contributed, 
practical  measures  are  adopted  to  meet  glaring  needs,  and  the  com- 
munity as  a whole  is  ere  long  so  convincingly  “shown”,  that  the 
inauguration  of  an  official  public  health  service  inevitably  follows. 

New  communities  can  make  greater  haste  than  have  the  older 
regions.  It  is  often  conceivd  necessary  nowadays  to  provide  a board 
of  public  health,  or  establish  a health  department  of  the  civil  gov- 
ernment, in  the  setting  up  of  a town  corporation,  like  any  other 
essential  feature  of  a municipality. 

This  is  not  so  nearly  universal,  even  with  new  towns,  as  it  ought 
to  be.  New.  towns,  even  in  the  new  states  like  Oklahoma,  usually 
grow  out  of  hamlets  or  villages,  and  rural  “freedom”  in  things 
sanitary  is  allowd  to  persist  until  long  after  the  congestion  of 
houses  and  people  should  have  forced  the  introduction  of  approvd 
city  or  town  sanitation.  It  is  hard  for  the  wisest  to  determine  just 
when  the  dug  well  should  be  abandond  or  sewers  should  be  laid. 
It  is  often  like  pulling  eye-teeth  to  draw  out  from  the  ignorant  and 
easy-going  the  taxes  necessary  to  install  a common  water  supply 
and  a sewage  disposal  system. 

Thus,  in  most  towns,  a group  of  public-spirited  volunteers  must 
take  the  lead.  If  none  do  so  of  their  own  accord,  a community 
council,  if  there  is  one,  should  not  delay  to  lay  the  burden  upon 


44 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


the  consciences  of  a group,  however  unwilling  the  community  as 
a whole  may  be  to  go  the  lengths  in  public  health  service,  The 
sma'lest  community  should  begin  right  away,  or  press  on  from 
the  point  which  it  has  attaind.  No  feature  of  community  buildmg 
calls  more  importunately  for  concerted  and  persistent  attention  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  than  this  of  programing  for  public  health. 

Standardized  Plans 

There  are  certain  standard  measures  which  every  community 
must  eventually  adopt:  inspection  of  buildings  or  industries  likely 
to  prove  a menace  to  health,  suppression  of  nuisances  of  all  sorts, 
check  n of  cent  • ion  and  the  enforced  removal  of  the  causes,  tho 
they  may  be  in  private  homes  and  within  the  zone  where  the  free- 
born American  citizen  is  supposed  to  be  sovereign  absolute.  There 
is  no  sovereignty  which  permits  the  individual  or  the  family  to  put 
in  jeopardy  the  health  and  lives  of  fellow-citizens.  The  zone  of 
public  interest  and  therefore  social  sovereignty  has  greatly  widend 
since  the  nature  of  diseases  and  the  habits  of  its  carriers  have  been 
accurately  ascertaind. 

But  pubi  c health  is  a very  intimate  interest,  and  each  com- 
munity should  show  enough  ingenuity  and  insight  to  adapt  its  pro- 
gram to  all  the  local  conditions.  These  vary  greatly  as  between  com- 
munities, and  hea  th  measures  should  vary  correspondingly. 

In  other  words,  this  is  a sc’ence  ^enlisting  the  community’s 
best  brains,  a holy  office  demanding  the  community’s  sincerest  con- 
science, the  test  of  the  community’s  individual  and  social  efficiency 
and  therefore  second  to  none  in  importance.  We  are  only  begin- 
ning, in  American  communities,  to  take  the*  measures  necessary  to 
insure  the  highest  efficiency  of  our  physical  life,  and,  as  spiritual 
values  are  so  indissolubly  bound  up  with  the  physical,  all  our 
hopes  and  our  destiny  are  here  involvd.  The  most  flagrant,  most 
criminal  waste  in  our  terribly  wasteful  civihzation  is  the  reckless 
throwing  away  of  the  human  values,  the  painful  rearing  of  the 
masses  to  rot  away  in  perpetual  inefficiency  before  they  have  livd 
out  half  of  their  years. 

Public  Hospitals 

The  hazards  of  the  smaller  community  are  magnified  in  the 
passing  of  the  country  doctor.  The  point  has  been  reacht  in  older 
sections  of  the  country  where  communities  advertize  for  physicians, 
offering  a guarantee  of  a certain  minimum  income  to  any  compe- 
tent practitioner  who  will  take  up  permanent  residence  in  the  com- 
munity. WhiT  there  does  not  seem  to  be  a pronounct  shortage  in 
the  medical  profession, — certainly  the  shortage  is  not  apparent  in 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


45 


the  cities  and  larger  towns  where  only  a meager  living  can  be 
secured  by  a certain  proportion  of  the  too  numerous  practitioners — 
yet  the  distribution  is  manifest’y  faulty. 

There  are  profound  changes  taking  place.  They  reach  farther 
than  the  layman,  or  even  most  of  the  medical  profession,  realize. 
The  hospital  is  partly  cause  and  partly  effect  of  this  tendency. 
Most  physicians  now  prefer  specialized  and  hospital  practice  to 
the  “old-fashiond”  general  home  visitation.  They  wish  the  patient 
to  come  to  the  physician,  rather  than  that  the  physician  should  go 
to  him,  and  when  his  malady  puts  the  patient  to  bed,  they  much 
prefer  that  that  bed  shall  be  of  the  modern  hospital  construction 
and  in  surroundings  approvd  by  modern  asepsis. 

Nurses,  likewise,  soon  wear  out  under  a regimen  of  home 
nursing,  and  gravitate  to  public  and  semi-public  institutions.  The 
pressure  is  on  from  every  quarter  in  the  direction  of  the  hospital. 
Even  tho  the  public  were  not  alive  to  its  own  best  interests,  the 
medical  profession  is  demanding  the  hospital.  No  considerable 
community  can  afford  to  be  without  one.  It  cannot  permanently 
retain  competent  medical  attendance  without  one. 

Studying  the  Business 

A few  physicians  or  a group  of  public-spirited  citizens  cannot 
inform  themselves  or  act  vicariously  for  an  entire  community.  No- 
where is  universal  education  more  imperative. 

Nor  will  the  formal  teaching  of  physiology  and  hygiene  in  the 
scho mnortrrt  as  this  r.  suffice.  Universa'  and  unending  popu- 
lar education  is  the  only  recourse.  This  requires  concerted  effort 
on  the  part  of  a'l  media  of  public  information.  It  requires  a de- 
voted, intelligent  and  constant  propaganda.  And  propaganda  does 
not  conduct  itself. 

No  board  of  health  takes  itself  seriously  enough  which  -s  con- 
tent to  follow  its  rounds  of  inspection  and  of  haul  ng  lawbreak- 
ers into  court.  It  is  properly  conceived  as  a vital  educational  force 
in  the  community.'  It  should  enlist-the  finest  ingenuity  of  the  citi- 
zenship in  compelling  even  him  who  runs  to  read  what  is  good  for 
him,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  fe'low-citizens,  in  the  care  of  his  physi- 
cal being  and  of  the  community’s  physical  surroundings.  Eternal 
vigilance  on  the  part  of  all  is  the  price  we  must  pay  for  good 
health. 

Information  is  now  available  to  all.  Laymen  may  render  a 
signal  service  by  studying  principles  and  methods  of  public  hygiene. 
As  remarkt  at  the  opening  of  this  section,  the  community’s  prob- 
lem. in  health  is  quite  as  much  a matter  of  engineering  as  of  medi- 
cine. The  business  man,  and  every  man  and  woman  of  affairs,  are 


46 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


calld  upon  to  know  what  will  make  for  the  general  health.  A 
systematic  course  of  reading  will  repay  any  one,  both  in  its  indi- 
vidual culture  and  it  is  preparation  of  the  citizen  for  social  useful- 
ness. 

The  School  of  Medicine  of  the  University  has  stores  of  knowl- 
edge and  experience  which  are  already  at  the  service  of  the  public, 
and  citizens  in  all  parts  of  the  state  should  avail  themselves  of  these 
resources  more  largely  than  at  present.  The  Extension  Division  will 
welcome  correspondence,  thru  which  inquirers  may  be  put  in  touch 
with  sources  of  information  covering  any  particular  phase  of  the 
subject  which  may  be  designated. 

RECREATION  AND  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

The  poet  found  in  his  old  age  that  soul  helps  flesh  no  more 
than  flesh  helps  soul.  The  physical  part  of  the  individual  and 
society  is  quite  as  essential  to  well-being  as  any  other  part. 

Our  modern  and  better  pedagogy  is  finding  that  the  play  spirit 
of  the  child  is  not  an  evil  to  be  supprest,  nor  merely  to  be  tolerated 
as  that  whose  limited  expression  will  keep  Jack  from  being  a dull 
boy  in  his  studies.  Play  and  the  play  spirit  are,  on  the  contrary,  the 
most  normal  element  of  the  child  nature  and  their  expression 
a most  vital  feature  of  education.  The  progressive  educator  is  con- 
scious that  we  are  still  very  backward  in  methods  for  the  intelli- 
gent culture  of  this  phase  of  child  nature. 

But  the  child  is  father  of  the  man  in  this  department  as  in 
most  others.  All  need  play.  Recreation  is  next  in  importance  to 
creation.  The  latter  indeed  must  stop  very  shortly  after  the  form- 
er begins  to  suffer  from  neglect.  A program  of  physical  education 
and  organized  play  is  not  alone  necessary  in  schools,  but  a compre- 
hensive program  for  those  of  all  ages  is  now  being  more  and  more 
widely  recognized  as  an  essential  feature  of  community  building. 

The  Peril  of  Drudgery 

A population  made  up  of  drudges  is  no  community  at  all,  and 
cannot  be  converted  into  one.  The  establishment  of  the  eight-hour 
day  in  industry  is  not  demanded  simply  by.  justice  to  the  individual 
worn  out  by  excessive  hours  of  labor.  It  is  a supreme  social  de- 
mand. Neither  the  physical  nor  the  spiritual  health  of  a com- 
munity can  be  maintaind  against  a regimen  of  unrelievd  grinding 
labor. 

Eight  hours  need  not  be  the  daily  limit  of  care-free,  inspiriting, 
joyful  labor.  Work  of  sufficient  variety  and  into  which  one  can 
put  his 'liveliest  interest  all  the  time  may  wholesomely  occupy  most 
of  one’s  waking  hours.  The  healthiest  both  in  body  and  in  mind 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


47 


are  often  those  whose  only  recreation  is  gaincl  by  a change  of 
work.  But  a community  whose  industry  is  so  organized  as  to  con- 
demn a considerable  proportion  of  its  citizens  to  drudging  or  dis- 
tasteful labor,  is  blind  to  its  own  best  interests  when  it  permits  the 
daily  stint  to  run  beyond  eight  hours.  Intelligent  students,  in- 
cluding employers  themselves,  are  beginning  to  find  that  for  cer- 
tain industries  eight  hours  are  too  many.  Several  employers  have 
demonstrated  that  the  industry  itself  prospers  best  under  a program 
of  not  more  than  six  hours  of  continuous  labor. 

Just  as  society  has  organized  industrially  to  involve  the  perils 
of  drudging  labor,  so  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  community  to  organ- 
ize to  furnish  the  antidote.  Organized  recreation  must  be  more 
and  more  clearly  recognized  as  a feature  of  the  community’s  pro- 
gram of  production.  It  is  a means  of  insuring  larger  economic  re- 
turns. It  is  a conservation  of  the  common  store  of  vital  energies. 

The  Peril  of  Unoccupied  Leisure 

The  most  conclusive  argument  against  the  eight-hour  day  of 
labor,  for  those  who  do  not  believe  in  it,  is  the  profligate  use  of 
their  leisure  by  working  people.  The  first  effect  upon  those  who 
suddenly  acquire  leisure  is,  usually  the  cultivation  of  dissolute  habits. 
Idleness  and  dissipation  are  notorious  companions. 

But  the  cure  for  these  evils, is  not  reaction  to. the  old  round  of 
drudgery  from  which  society  is  being  so  happily  emancipated.  It  is 
rather  the  intelligent  organization  of  the  leisure  time  of  the  masses 
of  people  who  have  not  the  individual  initiative  to  enable  them  to 
utilize  this  new  resource  to  the  best  advantage.  Leisure  must  be 
turnd  into  a social  asset. 

The  saloon  has  gone.  Most  Americans  are  glad  of  it.  Forms 
of  commercialized  amusements  spring  up  from  time  to  time  which 
soon  show  themselves  to  be  obnoxious.  Nature  ahbors  a vacuum, 
and  this  is  as  true  of  social  nature  as  of  physical.  Leisure  un- 
occupied with  employment  of  a wholesome  and  elevating  character 
will  speedily  be  occupied  by  employment  degenerating  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  menaceful  to  society. 

Commercialized  Sports  and  Amusements 

Those  who  stand  to  make  big  money  out  of  the  leisure  of  the 
people  need  to  be  watcht  all  the  time.  The  love  of  money  is  the 
root  of  a lot  of  the  social  evils,  if  not  of  all  of  them.  The  biggest 
quick  money  is  to  be  got  from  pandering  to  vice,  and  those  who 
are  eager  above  all  else  to  make  money  . will  not  scruple  to  get  it 
at  the  sacrifice  of  their  neighbors’  virtues. 

But  the  peril  of  commercialized  amusement  is  more  subtle  than 


48 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


this.  The  tendency  to  professionalism  which  it  cultivates  weakens 
the  social  fiber  even  where  open  vice  is  not  encouraged.  The  com- 
mercialization of  the  national  sport,  for  example,  baseball,  has 
recently  reveald  its  most  baleful  effects  in  the  corruption  expose 
in  the  courts  of  Chicago.  The  whole  nation  has  been  outraged  by 
these  revelations  and  the  “magnates”  have  themselves  been  fore- 
most to  recognize  the  peril  to  which  gamblers  and  dishonest  players 
have  subjected  the  whole  baseball  system. 

But  no  matter  how  successful  may  be  the  effort  of  these  “mag- 
nates” to  keep  the  game  “straight,”  the  subtler  evils  of  profession- 
alism have  not  been  eliminated.  Much  is  gaind  by  setting  high 
standards  of  excellence  in  sport.  Perhaps  these  can  be  attaind  only 
by  a high  order  of  brains  and  skill,  professionally  employd.  But 
that  program  tends  to  limit  the  numbers  who  derive  personal  bene- 
fit. Some  of  the  most  ardent  baseball  fans  could  not  throw  a 
ball  from  second  base  to  the  home  plate.  The  keenest  critics  of 
professional  baseball  tactics  are  often  entirely  guiltless  themselves 
of  the  slightest  baseball  skill. 

Sitting  cn  the  bleachers  for  two  hours  in  the  open  air,  while 
cheering  on  the  professionals  at  their  daily  labor,  or  jawing  the 
umpires  also  serving  for  a wage, — this  has  a certain  value.  The  fan 
might  employ  his  leisure  less  satisfactorily.  But  it  is  a low  social 
ideal  which  is  thus  reacht. 

Our  national  sport  may  be,  on  the  whole  worth  all  that  it 
costs.  Professional  baseball  indirectly  fills  the  sand-lot  diamonds 
with  p’ayers  as  well  as  crowds  the  major  league  bleachers  with 
idlers,  but  every  good  sportsman  as  well  as  every  social  philosopher 
wishes  that  the  game  could  be  so  organized  as  to  get  more  of  the 
spectators  into  the  players’  uniforms.  The  best  sport  is  the  kind 
which  sets  all  to  playing  the  game  at  least  a part  of  the  time.  Spec- 
tators add  enormously  to  the  zest  of  a sport,  but  there  is  now  far 
too  rigid  division  of  labor  between  the  players  and  the  spectators, 
it  would  be  better  if  our  major  sports  could  be  so  organized  that 
players  and  spectators  take  turn  about. 

The  best  recreation  program  for  a community  will  see  that  this 
is  achievd.  To  be  fully  effective  such  a program  must  set  all  the 
citizens  to  playing.  It  is  not  required  that  all  shall  become  skillful 
at  every  sport,  nor  even  that  what  are  now  styled  sports  shall 
absorb  all  of  the  leisure  of  any.  Many  can  make  sport  of  what 
others  call  work,  and  can  thus  gain  all  the  recreation  which  they 
need.  But  by  some  means  recreation  should  become  universal,  and 
none  should  be  permitted  to  lead  a joyless,  drudging  life,  certainly 
not  thru  the  will  of  others.  And  those  who  wilfully  make  them- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  4J 

selves  drudges  should  at  least  feel  the  pressure  against  them  of 
the  whole  community  spirit. 

However  necessary,  therefore,  may  be  the  supply  of  certain 
sports  and  amusements  which  require  large  gate-fees  for  their 
maintenance,  a complete  recreation  program  for  any  community  will 
the  eniistment  of  great  masses  among  the  players,  and 
players  Wik,  are  engaged  for  the  love  of  the  sport  rather  than  for 
the  money  rewards  to  be  got  out  of  it. 

Recreation  and  Education 

The  best  recreation  is  not  of  dissipation  of  time  and  energy. 
Leisure  time  occupations  need  not  be  sheer  waste.  The  best  play  is 
always  educative. 

Thus  a community  program  of  recreation  should  cover  a wide 
range  of  interests,  and  is  closely  linkt  with  the  program  of  formal 
education.  Its  proper  and  ultimate  aim  is  to  put  joy  into  the  whole 
of  life.  It  is  the  foe  of  idleness,  not  its  encouragement.  It  hates 
loafing  and  loafers,  and  seeks  to  banish  them  absolutely  and  totally 
from  the  community. 

As  a matter  of  experience,  most  community  programs  of  recrea- 
tion have  been  inaugurated  by  or  in  connection  with  the  schools. 
So  far  as  the  schools  are  confined  to  the  service  of  the  young,  they 
must  fail  to  supply  the  full  and  final  direction  of  the  program,  for, 
as  already  pointed  out,  recreation  is  important  for  the  adult  as  the 
child,  tho  it  may  take  different  forms  for  the  two.  But  the  drama., 
music,  and  all  branches  of  art  are  properly  fosterd  in  connection 
with  the  recreational  or  joy  life. 

Thus  an  immense  field  is  opend.  It  is  apparent  that  no  clear 
lines  of  demarcation  can  be  drawn  between  recreation  and  the 
serious  interests  of  the  individual  or  of  society.  Play  has-been  so 
sorely  neglected  that  few  of  us  realize  how  serious  is  its  need. 
All  our  work  will  become  more  wholesome  and  efficient  when  it 
is  more  charged  with  the  play  spirit. 

Leadership 

No  community  can  afford  to  leave  this  department  to  chance. 
Wholesome  recreation  will  not  develop  itself  nor  will  clean  play  go 
straight  without  guidance.  Not  only  will  an  effective  program  cost 
money,  but  the  best  results  will  be  got  from  the  expenditure  only 
as  the  program  is  carefully  pland  and  the  expenditure  budgeted. 

The  sources  whence  the  money  conies  may  vary.  Some  com- 
munities see  so  clearly  and  agree  so  unanimously  that  recreational 
guidance  is  public  service,  that  they  naturally  make  provision  thru 
taxes,  either  in  connection  with  the  school  system  or  otherwise 
under  the  civil  government.  In  others  even  larger  sums  are  avail- 


50 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

able  thru  popular  subscription.  Individual  philanthropists  cannot 
honor  themselves  and  serve  their  community  better  than  by  intelli- 
gent provision  of  buildings  and  other  equipment  for  this  departure. 

A play  supervisor  is  coming  to  be  a prime  requirement.  That 
means  a salary,  and  it  should  be  a liberal  salary,  for  the  efficient 
guidance  of  the  varied  elements  of  a community  in  their  play  life, 
calls  for  a high  order  of  skill  and  thoro  training.  In  communities 
where  great  difficulty  has  been  experienct  or  is  anticipated  in 
getting  started,  the  wisest  expenditure  of  all  is  likely  to  he  the  salary 
of  a capable  supervisor.  Leaders  properly  traind  do  not  ask  for 
or  expect  perfect  conditions  and  a constituency  wholly  intelligent 
and  committed  to  the  program.  They  expect  to  do  a lot  of  mission- 
ary work  in  the  interests  of  their  cause.  They  delight  to  convince 
the  doubtful  by  demonstrating  the  value  of  their  profession. 

Thus  a whole  community  does  not  need  to  be  committed  before 
a start  may  be  made.  Collect  a committee  large  and  intelligent 
enough  to  insure  a reasonable  backing,  and  funds  sufficient  to 
finance  a supervisor,  and  the  cause  is  as  good  as  won.  It  is  the 
business  b‘f 'a  propefly  traind  supervisor  to  win  the  support  of  the 
community.  The  program  will  win  its  own  way,  like  every  good 
cause. ' : ; 

Information  and  Standards 

* ComrtiUnity  Service,  Inc.,  is  only  one  of  the  national  agencies 
now  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  community  recreational  programs, 
irhese  help  with  literature  and  thru  salaryd  specialists.  They  help 
to  standardize  the  methods  employd  in  organized  communities,  and 
By  serving  as  a clearing-house  of  information,  enable  each  com- 
munity to  profit  by  both  the  successes  and  the  failures  of  other 
towns  and  cities. 

Community  Service,  Inc.,  grew  out  of  the  war  camp  service, 
grafted  upon  the  stock  of  the  earlier  play-ground  association.  It  is 
devoted  solely  to  direction  of  leisure  time.  Its  address  is  1,  Madi- 
son Avenue,  New  York. 

The  Extension  Division  of  the  University  is  equipt  to  furnish 
counsel  in  this  field,  and  correspondence  is  invited  from  all.  Ref- 
erences can  probably  be  given  which  will  enable  any  inquirer  to 
pursue  intelligent  study  of  any  phase  of  this  service. 

MUSIC 

“Music  hath  charms  to  sooth  the  savage  breast.”  This  is  partic- 
ularly true:  when  the,  savagery  lies  in  the  human  breast.  Singing 
communities  do  not  fight.  ;Petty  factions  do  not  run  riot  in  towns 
where  community  and  club  singing  is  constant  and  enthusiastic. 

Thus  music  becomes  a community  builder  of  peculiar  signifi- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


51 


cance.  It  has  long  been  noted  that  ardent  patriotism  and  social 
vigor  has  been  accompanyd  by  popular  musical  movements  among  the 
older  populations  of  Europe.  Folk  songs  are  among  the  most 
permanent  and  characteristic  bonds  which  give  a race  or  a nation 
stability  and  consistency.  They  are  not  wholly  cause;  they  are 
often  quite  as  much  effect.  A people  bound  together  by  tribulations 
or  great  common  joy  burst  forth  in  song;  song  is  the  expression 
of  sentiments  of  fellow  feeling  born  of  either  common  joy  or  com- 
mon anxieties. 

We  in  the  United  States  scarcely  know  what  all  this  means.  We 
are  accummu’ating  folk  music,  but  we  are  not  fully  conscious  of 
it.  Oddly  enough,  our  most  characteristic  and  original  folk  music 
has  been  supplied  by  the  negro.  Yet  this  is  not  so  odd  as  it  seems. 
The  negroes  have  been  given  a peculiar  solidarity  by  the  vicissi- 
tudes they  have  sufferd,  and  stronger  common  sentiments  have 
prevaild  among  them  than  among  any  other  single  element  in  the 
population. 

While  it  is  true  that  racial  or  national  vicissitudes  have  gen- 
erated the  most  lasting  and  vital  folk  music  among  all  people  in  all 
lands,  yet  other  causes  may  just  as  effectively  serve  if  they  are 
turnd  to  account  in  cementing  a common  social  life.  The  Ameri- 
can people  need  not  and  should  not  wait  until  they  are  trodden 
under  the  heel  of  a brutal  oppressor  or  suffer  some  terrible  calam- 
ity before  their  soul  bursts  forth  in  song.  We  need  a great  na- 
tional movement  to  cultivate  and  express  the  common  soul  in 
music. 

And  this  movement  would  seem  to  be  coming,  if  it  has  not 
already  been  inaugurated.  It  began  before  the  war,  and  has  been 
accelerated  by  the  war,  tho  the  war  diverted  it  into  different  chan- 
nels. It  seems  likely,  in  due  time,  to  sweep  back  into  the  channel 
in  which  it  was  earlier  started.  Every  consideration  prompts  every 
community  to  swing  into  line  and  join  this  movement. 

The  Individual  Artist  and  the  Community 

The  musical  artist  is  notoriously  tempermental,  not  to  say 
cranky.  He  or  she  often  expresses  anything  but  the  social  spirit. 
Musical  genius  sometimes  seems  individualism  run  to  seed. 

But  this  popular  impression  of  the  musician  is  in  the  way  of 
being  corrected.  No  more  outspoken  and  aggressive  leaders  of 
the  community  movement  are  to  be  found  than  among  the  musical 
profession. 

The  great  majority  of  our  national  artists  have  been  foreners 
for  reasons  which  are  for  the  most  part  quite  clear  and  natural. 

Many  have  been  charged  with  being  mercenary;  Americans 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


ha\e  the  fattest  pocketbooks,  and  therefore  the  foren  musicians 
flock  to  our  opera  and  concert  halls,  yet  he  is  doing  more  to  develop 
an  indigenous  musical  life  in  America  than  some  of  our  foren 
citizens. 

Caruso,  whose  recent  death  has  stird  the  whole  world  to  tri- 
butes to  his  spirit  and  art,  made  an  immense  fortune  from  his 
American  service,  but  he  set  standards  of  liberality  which  will 
abide,  and  will  go  far  to  remove  the  stigma  of  selfishness  which 
has  been  attacht  to  the  musical  artist.  He  was  always  cheery  and 
ready  to  give  his  best  for  the  pub'ic. 

The  Damrosches,  father  and  two  brothers,  have  been  a power- 
ful, influence  in  the  movement  for  popular  education  in  music. 
Edward  Bok  tells,  in  his  widely  read  biography,  how  he  was  instru- 
mental in  transforming  the  old  close  corporation  in  control  of  the 
symphony  orchestra  of  Philadelphia  into  a genuinely  popular  in- 
stitution. 

Music  is  too  vital  and  precious  a social  force  to  leave  it 
cloisterd  in  studios  and  the  drawing-rooms  of  the  wealthy.  The 
larger  cities  are  all  ambitious  to  establish  on  a firm  basis  their 
symphony  orchestras  or.  opera  companies,  and  no  town  is  too  small 
to  maintain  a healthy  community  musical  organization  of  some 
sort. 

Community  Backing  for  Musical  Prganizations 

Desire  of  self-improvement  is  sufficiently  strong  to  keep  alive 
some  musical  organizations,  but  where  this  continues  an  only  in- 
centive the  community  shows  itself  selfish,  wiring-  to  receive  the 
benefits  of  arduous  labors  on  the  part  of  its  musicians  without  giv- 
ing anything.  Chance  admission  fees  for  musical  concerts  furnish 
poor  support,  and  must  fail  to  build  up  a high-grade  and  self- 
respe'cting  musical  life  in  a community/ 

In  music  as  in  sports,  a community  must  beware  lest  it  derive  its 
culture  from  “sitting  on  the  bleachers.”  Every  one  cannot  be  a 
musical  artist,  but  a plain  duty  is /lard  upon  each,  and  each  should 
rejoice  in  the  opportunity,  to  back  up  an  intelligent  musical  program 
which  shall  encourage  and  support  the  leadership  of  its  artists. 

Rarely  is  this  backing  other  than  volunteer  among  American 
communities,  but  it  should  be  made  popular,  and  as  many  as  possi- 
ble of  the  citizens  be  enlisted  as  workers  and  financial  supporters. 
Developing  a strong  musical  department  in  connection  with  the 
schools  is  a good  “next  step.”  This  tends  to  establish  the  program 
in  the  official  life  of  the  community. 

The  movement  should  certain’y  not  stop  there.  The  conven- 
tional identification  of  the  schools  with  the  children  and  youth 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


33 


cramps  the  musical  program  far  too  much.  It  should  have  much 
of  its  richest  and  most  intelligent  support  from  the  adult  life  By 
municipal  hand  stanm-  regmnr  m:;.  ■ • m;  r • m- ;.vl;  er 

municipal  auspices,  several  American  cities  arc  advancing  farther. 
We  have  nowhere  reacht  the  standards  of  many  cities  of  the  old 
world,  and  even  of  certain  mum  • r -Am-  r;  re- 

publics, where  the  national  or  municipa”  opera  house  and  concert 
halls  are  maintaind  at  the  public  expense. 

All  Taking  Part 

There  are  signs  that  our  American  movement  will  become  far 
more  essentially  popular  than  even  the  mantf  nance  of  mpn  cipal 
concerts  and  orchestras  and  bands.  Numerous  communities  are 
now  being  organized  in  a manner  to  get  the  people  “off  the 
bleachers.”  They  themselves  furnish  the  musi  Hundreds  er- 

sons,  even  in  relatively  small  communities,  are  now  organized  in 
singing  clubs,  or  instrumental  organizat'ons,  pra~tic’ng  re gularly, 
and  deriving  much  personal  benefit,  and  these  pr|anization'  are 
affiliated  under  a central  leadership  whch  on  festival  occasions 
enables  the  community  to  bring  together  impressive  assemblages 
of  its  own  citizen  musicians  traind  to  a common  purpose,  and  pre- 
pared to  co-operate  r arraf  erc!  p-  tr  otT‘  • rv’be 

Look  up  this  movement,  even  tho  your  commun’ty  may  now  be 
very  backward  musically,  or  even  tho  it  may  be  so  small  that  only 
limited  musical  organizations  of  any  type  would  seem  ever  possi- 
ble. Whatever  steps  are  taken  in  your'  community  might  well 
be  taken  with  a worthy  goa1  in  view.  Community  Service,  Inc.,  1 
Madison  Avenue,  New  York,  is  giving  strong  encouragement  to 
comprehensive  community  organization  in  music,  and  has  workt 
out  plans  whereby  leaders  of.  small,  local  musical  organizations 
can  themselves  be  organized  by  cities  and  counties,  to  unify  and 
standardize  the  movement  for  large  areas. 

Providing  Ccrnoetent  Teachers 

Certain  Oklahoma  communities  of  considerable  size  are  now 
entirely  without  professional  musical  leadership.  Even  tho  one 
may  be  disposed  to  give  himself  a musical  training,  he  is  helpless 
before  these  conditions.  In  no  department  of  education  is  a live 
and  speaking  teacher  more  essential.  One  cannot  “p:ck  up”  his 
music,  and  do  it  welb  A community  does  its  whole  life  a serious 
hurt  by  allowing  such  conditions  to  continue. 

Once  an  atmosphere  is  created,  and  musical  ambitions  are  stird, 
teachers  are  usually  able  to  hold  their  own.  They  make  their  own 
way.  But  a competent  teacher  may  not  be  disposed  to  enter  a 


54 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


musically  dead  community  and  starve  while  he  stirs  its  ambitions. 
A start  can  always  be  made  by  underwriting  a good  teacher’s 
support  for  a term  of  years,  and  the  underwriters  not  only  render  a 
most  valuable  public  service,  but  they  rarely  lose  money  in  the 
end.  Happily  music  is  a branch  of  education  which  has  proved 
vital  enough  largely  to  make  its  own  way,  and  it  will  continue  to 
make  big  return  in  cash,  if  a little  brains  are  put  into  organizing  its 
promotion. 

Information  and  Encouragement 

No  feature  of  the  spring  meet  at  the  University  is  more  im- 
pressive than  the  competition  among  musical  clubs  from  the  high 
schools  of  the  state.  The  Extension  Division  is  eager  to  see  this 
movement  extend  to  every  community  and  to  every  element  of 
the  population.  Write  of  your  hopes  and  perplexities,  and  refer- 
ences can  be  given  to  sources  of  information  which  may  be  of 
assistance  to  you.  The  whole  school  system  of  the  state  from  the 
musical  department  of  the  University  down  to  the  humblest  teacher 
of  music  in  the  school  grades,  is  eager  to  set  Oklahoma  to  sing- 
ing, and  otherwise  to  sweeten  and  deepen  and  unify  the  life  of 
the  state  thru  music. 

CELEBRATION  OF  NATIONAL  AND  LOCAL 
FESTIVALS 

We  have  one  great  national  holiday  in  America  on  which  citizens 
everywhere  are  supposed  to  unite,  tho  it  falls  on  a date  when 
millions  of  the  population  are  sweltering  in  extreme  heat,  and 
many  others  are  absent  from  their  homes  seeking  respite.  There 
are  two  or  three  religious  festivals  which  are  variously  celebrated 
by  our  religious  bodies,  but  which  are  sufficiently  well  establisht  to 
bring  about  a fairly  concerted  observance. 

Of  old  and  for  the  most  part  in  most  countries  still,  festivals 
are  celebrated  under  religious  auspices.  The  radical  divisions  in 
American  religious  leadership  have  deprivd  our  society  of  this 
normal  guidance  in  national  and  community  celebrations.  But  as 
the  community  movement  spreads  we  are  in  a fair  way  to  overcome 
this  handicap,  and  utilize  our  holidays  for  more  wholesome  and 
constructive  purposes  than  to  encourage  general  dissipation  and 
loafing. 

There  is  no  more  convenient  and  important  point  where  com- 
munity councils  can  take  hold  than  here.  For  years  the  Fourth 
of  July  has  been  a day  of  slaughter,  carrying  off  in  dead  and 
seriously  wounded  more  persons  than  furnisht  the  causualities  of 
some  of  the  important  battles  in  the  wars  we  celebate.  This  is 
less  true  today  than  it  has  been  in  recent  years.  A persistent  move- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


55 


ment  to  win  a “safe  and  sane  Fourth”  has  been  notably  success- 
ful in  reducing  this  frightful  list  of  deaths  and  injuries  from  care- 
lessly used  fireworks. 

Fireworks  displayd  under  proper  safeguards  and  organized  for 
the  benefit  of  the  whole  community  are  far  more  enjoyable  for 
each  participant  than  are  the  crack-crack  and  spit-spit  of  the  same 
material  “shot  off”  at  any  old  time  and  in  any  old  way  by  individ- 
uals. If  this  has  not  been  tried  in  your  community,  you  and  your 
neighbors  have  a most  satisfing  experience  yet  in  store. 

Community  Leadership 

Our  festivals  are  almost  universally  sacrificed  by  the  lack  of 
real  community  leadership.  Nowhere  has  our  sectarian  religious 
order  more  conspicuously  fallen  down  than  at  this  point.  Our 
religious  officials  are  incapable  of  assuming  proper  leadership  in 
the  name  of  religion,  because  our  religious  factions  destroy  the 
only  kind  of  religious  spirit  which  fits  this  case.  The  term  religion 
is  derived  from  a Latin  root  which  means  bind.  Religion,  histori- 
cally known,  has  been  a bond,  uniting  members  of  a nation,  of  a 
race,  and  latterly  wider  fellowships  of  men  in  common  aspirations 
and  purposes.  Our  great  festivals  are  the  occasions,  of  all  others, 
when  these  bonds  should  be  reveald  and  strengthend. 

By.  intelligent  organization  of  the  whole  community  for  the 
observance  of  these  great  occasions  the  true  religious  spirit  will  be 
revived  and  enlarged.  But  the  leadership  must  come  from  the 
whole  community  for  the  whole  community,  and  not  from  factions, 
whether  going  under  religious  names  or  not.  The  backwardness 
of  these  festival  celebrations  in  all  parts  of  our  country  is  attrib- 
utable to  lack  of  a leadership  capable  of  representing  the  whole 
community. 

And  what  a powerful  force  for  better  citizenship  these  celebra- 
tions might  be  made ! National  and  local  holidays  have  been  carryd 
to  an  extreme  in  many  old  countries.  They  have  become  so  numer- 
ous that  they  hopelessly  break  up  the  industrial  and  commercial 
life  of  the  people.  They  are  already  sufficiently  numerous  in  some 
parts  of  the  United  States  to  raise  a question  of  their  value. 

But  here  is  all  the  more  reason  why  they  should  be  taken  hold 
of  by  and  in  the  interests  of  the  who^  community.  To  turn  them 
over  to  boredom  or  dissipation  is  precisely  the  way  not  to  cure 
any  evils  which  may  be  developing  in  the  system. 

Pageants 

These  have  been  prepared  in  great  profusion  of  recent  years. 
Some  are  standardized  for  the  use  of  any  community  in  the  coun- 
try in  connection  with  a standard  holiday.  The  best,  in  the  sense 


50 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


of  appealing  most  vividly  to  the  community  consciousness,  are  those 
loc'J  1 y nsp  red,  locally  prepared  and  presented  thruout  by  the  citi- 
zens themselves. 

The  history  of  the  town  is  thus  visualized  and  its  traditions  kept 
alive.  Already  many  communities  in  Oklahoma  are  old  enough  to 
provide  material  of  effective  pageants.  The  oM  “sooner”  days  are 
full  of  incidents  which  our  coming  generations  will  wish  to 
commemorate. 

As  communities  grow  older,  and  their  sons  and  daughters 
scatter  over  the  earth,  “home  weeks,”  with  pageant  accompaniments, 
prove  very  effective  in  cementing  the  attachments  of  both  those 
who  have  gone  and  those  who  remain.  These  occasions  now  tend 
to  be  commercialized  until  there  is  a reaction  against  them,  and 
they  are  sometimes  overdone  by  being  repeated  at  too  short  inter- 
vals. When  they  degenerate  into  a device  by  which  the  folks  who 
remain  bleed  the  “home-comers,”  it  is  time  they  were  discounten- 
anced. But,  preserved  as  a means  of  cultivating  loyalty  to  the  com- 
mon life  and  common  ideals  of  the  town,  they  are  worth  perpetuat- 
ing. 

MOTION  PICTURES 

The  marvel  of  the  movie  must  continue  to  amaze  those  who 
can  remember  when  there  were  no  movies.  There  are  persons  still 
in  the  vigor  of  comparative  youth  who  can  remember  a world  in 
which  there  was  no  telephone,  no  automobile,  no  motion  picture 
theater.  That  our  civilization  has  been  able  to  take  on  these  three 
enormously  expensive  far-reaching  developments,  not  to  speak  of 
others  scarcely  less  notable,  all  in  the  space  of  a short  life-time, 
is  one  of  the  marvels  of  human  history. 

The  billions  of  dollars  already  invested  in  the  motion  picture 
industry,  the  conversion  of  thousands  of  the  old  type  of  theater 
and  the  erections  of  other  thousands  of  new  structures  speciaTy 
designd  for  film  exposure,  some  of  them  among  the  outstanding 
landmarks  of  our  large  cities,  the  employment  of  a veritable  army 
of  artists  and  skild  artisans,  some  of  them  the  highest  paid  who 
have  ever  livd, — all  this  is  a tale  with  which  the  public  prints  make 
us  familiar. 

Commercial  Significance 

The  movies  are  a business.  Some  of  the  best  business  brains 
and  much  of  the  country’s  capital  have  gone  into  it.  Whole  cities 
are  exclusively  devoted  to  the  art  and  its  industry.  In  each  con- 
siderable community  the  theater  is  largely  remunerative.  For  many 
of  the  “high-ups”  the  financial  returns  have  made  the  tales  of 
bonanza  gold  mines  seem  tame. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


57 


There  is  evidence  that  the  business  is  now  entering  upon  a new 
stage.  Its  methods  are  more  highly  standardized  than  during  the 
first  wild-cat-days.  More  conservative  capital  and  higher  orders  of 
artistry  are  being  employd.  The  movie  is  with  us  to  stay,  and  to 
grow  as  a commercial  asset 

It  thus  will  come  under  many  of  the  same  laws  as  any  other 
commercial  enterprise.  It  is  developing  a science  of  its  own.  It  is 
training  its  artisans  and  artists  and  executives.  The  rewards  of 
skill  and  efficiency  in  its  particular  demands  are  being  standard  zed. 
Thus  the  community  knows  what  it  may  expect,  and  can  shape  its 
policies  to  control  and  direct  the  business  to  the  common  good. 

Community  Control 

No  business  needs  more  intelligent  and  constant  control  by 
the  community,  and  in  none  will  the  community  be  more  fully  justi- 
fied in  exercising  its  right.  Conservative  citizens  are  greatly  con- 
cernd  over  the  growing  commercial  and  spiritual  influence  of  the 
movie.  This  has  so  far  exprest  itself  largely  in  harsh  criticism  or 
crabbed  despair. 

Yet  there  is  no  cause  for  despair.  No  enterprise  is  more  readily 
controld,  when  the  community  once  makes  up  its  mind  upon  what 
it  wants.  Each  can  have  just  what  it  wants,  so  far  as  the  producers 
are  prepared  to  supply  it.  and  the  producers  will  in  the  end  supply 
just  what  communities  indicate  they  desire.  Not  even  the  press 
is  so  responsive  to  pub’ic  sentiment  as  is  the  movie.  Public  senti- 
ment can  drive  any  film  out  of  town,  and  can  draw  in  and  retain 
for  a protracted  run  any  other  film  wh;ch  it  may  desire. 

Much  of  the  prevalent  harsh  criticism  of  movie  managements 
is  exhausted  in  the  carping  despair  of  helpless  minorities.  The 
same  amount  of  energy  employd  in  organizing  public  sentiment, 
and  providing  means  for  its  prompt  expression,  would  produce 
vastly  more  result,  and  would  forestall  the  development  of  the 
confirmd  ill-will  against  which  the  movie  still  successfully  contends 
in  many  communities. 

Censorship  of  the  films  exposed  in  its  theaters  is  the  right  of 
every  community.  Some  censor  committees  are  very  foolish.  Others 
are  arbitrary  and  domineering.  When  the  movie  management  can 
successfully  appeal  over  the  heads  of  the  censors  to  public  senti- 
ment, the  management  demonstrates  its  ability  to  read  the  public 
will  and  serve  the  public  interests  better  than  the  officials  them- 
selves. There  ought  to  be  no  conflict  between  censors  and  movie 
management.  The  censors  have  no  right  to  an  opinion  or  to  make 
decisions  which  do  not  accord  with  the  common  desires  of  the 
citizens.  It  is  to  the  interests  of  the  movie  management  constantly 


58 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


to  discover  and  serve  these  same  common  desires.  Censors  who  set 
up  their  private  judgment,  or  the  judgment  of  a select  and  domi- 
neering group,  in  approving  or  disapproving  films,  will  be  per- 
petually in  hot  water. 

Educational  Value 

Those  who  see  most  in  the  movies  magnify  the  service  they 
are  already  rendering,  and  are  vastly  more  capable  still  of  render- 
ing, in  popular  education. 

This  includes  their  use  in  the  schools.  Here  is  a science  and 
an  art,  taken  in  and  of  itself.  School  managements  are  studying  the 
art,  and  schoolhouses,  and  school  equipment,  wi'l  be  rapidly  re- 
ordered to  allow;  for  a general  use  of  both  still  and  motion  pictures 
on  the  screen  in  classroom  instruction. 

But  the  farthest  reaching  educational  significance  of  the  movie 
lies  in  the  methods  and  policies  of  the  general  theaters.  Censors 
make  a serious  mistake  when  they  assume  their  office  to  be  one 
of  suppression  solely  or  mainly.  The  time  has  now  vcome  for  the 
working  out  of  a comprehensive  plan  of  popular  education,  not  di- 
vorced from  the  entertainment  features  of  the  movie. 

The  movie  censor  committee  is  thus  best  conceivd  and  organ- 
ized as  a department  of  public  education.  In  many  communities  this 
committee  is  closely  identified,  thru  interlocking  membership  or 
otherwise,  with  the  school  board.  This  is  too  often  a contrivance 
whose  purpose  is  exhausted  with  the  “protection”  of  the  school 
children  against  improper  films.  Any  purely  negative  conception 
of  the  censor’s  office  is  unfortunate.  No  other  single  institution 
reaches  so  many  of  the  citizens  so  constantly  as  does  the  movie  in 
the  average  community.  Policies  of  control  which  are  purely 
negative,  or  extend  only  to  suppression  of  what  is  conqeivd  to  be 
evil,  fall  lamentably  short  of  what  the  situation  demands. 

A Field  of  Study  and  Public  Service 

So  imprest  is  the  University  with  the  place  which  the  movie 
and  its  art  must  take  in  the  social  order,  that  a department  of 
Visual  Education  has  been  establisht  under  the  Extension  Division. 
No  community,  nor  its  censorship  committee  shcTuld  fail  to  keep 
in  touch  with  this  department.  Much  preliminary  work  has  already 
been  done.  The  department  is  prepared  to  offer  counsel  and  guid- 
ance. Send  for  literature  and  put  up  your  specific  problems  to  this 
force  of  experts. 

Thru  this  department  or  otherwise  every  censorship  commit- 
tee, or  community  council,  or  other  organization  directly  interested 
in  this  impartant  phase  of  community  life,  should  put  itself  in 
touch  with  state  and  national  agencies  for  the  promotion  and 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


59 


regulation  of  the  movie.  The  best  brains  and  the  cleanest  con- 
science of  every  community  should  be  enlisted  in  this  service. 

CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 

There  have  been  organizations,  going  by  the  name  of  chamber 
of  commerce,  or  board  of  trade,  or  commercial  club,  ostensibly  rep- 
resenting and  serving  the  community,  which  were  in  reality  private 
institutions  designd  to  serve  the  private  interests  of  a very  limited 
group  of  citizens.  Happily  these  are  now  fewer  than  formerly. 

But  the  name  has  not  altogther  recoverd  from  the  repute  in 
which  these  practices  brought  it.  Some  labor  organizations  see 
red  when  the  chamber  of  commerce  is  mentiond.  Often  these  two 
have  been  in  irreconcilable  conflict.  A community  suffers  under 
such  conditions,  and  its  interests  can  at  best  be  but  indifferently 
servd  by  either  of  them.  Sometimes  the  activity  of  either  is  a 
distinct  disservice  to  the  whole. 

A new  type  of  chamber  of  commerce  has  been  developing  of 
late,  determinedly  kept  on  a democratic  basis,  and  open  to  every 
citizen  or  organization.  Labor  organizations  as  well  as  banks  and 
business  houses  are  urged  to  enrol  and  pay  for  seats  of  representa- 
tives. The  annual  fee  is  put  as  low  as  is  consistent  with  efficiency, 
and  constant  effort  is  made  to  keep  hundreds  and  even  thousands 
in  the  membership,  instead  of  the  select  few  opulent  men  of  affairs 
who  often  made  up  the  exclusive  membership  of  the  older  type  of 
organization.  From  the  community  point  of  view  this  is  a long 
step  forward. 

Backing  the  Community  with  Community  Resources 

The  strength  of  the  leadership  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
is  its  marshaling  of  the  community’s  economic  resources.  Money 
talks.  Money  must  be  got  back  of  practically  every  project  which 
promises  large  benefit  to  the  community.  This  fact  is  so  apparent 
that  many  believe  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  the  natural  social 
leader,  and  should  be  accepted  as  making  unnecessary  a community 
council  or  any  similar  body. 

In  some  cases  this  point  may  be  well  taken.  Perhaps  this  new 
type  of  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  the  most  successful  agency  for 
community  advance  now  in  the  field.  It  has  a strength  which  few 
or  no  other  types  of  organization  can  ever  attain.  It  frankly  aims 
at  the  mobilization  of  the  financial  and  business  forces,  and  they 
are  determinative  in  most  enterprises,  if  not  omnipotent. 

Organizing  Spiritual  Resources 

Yet  the  material  forces  of  any  community  fall  down  when  they 
assume  arbitrarily  to  dominate.  There  is  no  reason  why  a Cham- 


60 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


ber  of  Commerce  should  neglect  the  spiritual  realities.  But  as  a 
matter  of  fact  it  often  does,  and  even  antagonizes  the  agencies 
which  represent  them. 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  agency  which  leads  the  community 
shall  be  deferential  to  the  churches  and  thrust  the  ministers  for- 
ward on  public  occasions  to  lead  in  prayer.  It  is  not  enough  that  the 
school  board  should  be  scheduled  for  periodic  compliments  in  the 
literature  and  important  meetings  of  the  chamber.  An  organization 
which  efficiently  leads  the  community  should  enter  critically  and 
constructively  into  each  area  of  the  community  life.  It  should  be 
at  home  in  each,  and  embrace  in  its  membership  intelligent  leader- 
ship in  each  and  all. 

A Chamber  of  Commerce  is  thus  handicapt  so  long  as  it  identi- 
fies itself,  or  is  identified  by  the  public,  with  purely  financial  and 
industrial  and  other  economic  interests. 

Impartial  Leadership 

A further  handicap  of  the  chamber  as  the  outstanding  com- 
munity leader  is  its  greatest  strength : it  does  things.  It  commands 
the  financial  resources,  and  it  acts  promptly  and  vigorously  when 
it  sees  anything  needing  to  be  done.  Some  communities  like  that. 
They  want  precisely  that  kind  of  leadership.  For  a while. 

If  the  chamber  comes  short  of  embracing  all  the  social  groups 
in  its  membership,  or  assumes  to  act  in  disregard  of  the  will  of 
any  of  them,  there  is  sooner  or  later  the  devil  or  at  least  one  of 
his  imps  to  pay.  By  its  very  vigor  in  action,  the  chamber  forces 
itself  into  rivalry  with  other  agencies  which  are  in  the  field  to  do 
things.  Thus  conflict  is  always  imminent,  and  has  become  actually 
so  sharp  in  some  cases  that  almost  every  move  of  the  chamber  is 
resented  by  a large  enough  element  to  cause  embarrassment  if  not 
hopeless  deadlock. 

This  evil  is  reduced  in  the  degree  in  which  the  chamber  in- 
cludes all  elements  in  its  leadership,  and  to  the  extent  that  it  moves 
intelligents  and  sympathetically  with  other  agencies  in  every  field 
of  common  interest.  Even  then  the  suspicion  of  “commercialism” 
forever  dogs  its  way,  in  the  minds  of  many. 

The  Field  of  the  Chamber 

The  American  City  Bureau  has  been  a powerful  and  wholesome 
force  in  redeeming  the  chamber  of  commerce  from  its  old  nar- 
rowness. The  type  of  chamber  which  is  now  in  so  many  sections 
furnishing  broad-gage  and  efficient  leadership  is  largely  the  in- 
spiration of  this  Bureau. 

The  Chicago  office  was  in  charge  of  the  institute  for  secre- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


61 


taries  of  Chambers  of  Commerce,  held  at  the  University  during 
the  summer  of  1921,  and  the  Bureau  has  been  active  in  promoting 
the  organization  of  its  type  of  chamber  of  commerce  in  various  cen- 
ters in  the  state.  There  should  be  many  more  of  these.  It  is  for- 
tunate for  Ok'ahoma’s  whole  commercial  and  social  life  that  this 
connection  has  been  formd.  The  American  City  Bureau  should  be 
freely  consulted  and  the  services  of  its  expert  agents  utilized. 

Following  the  lead  of  the  Bureau,  the  field  of  the  chamber 
will  be  markt  broad,  and  its  work  will  be  thoro.  Nothing  vital 
to  the  life  of  the  community  will  be  esteemd  alien  to  its  interests. 
Numerous  organizations  now  operating  in  a limited  field  will  be  ab- 
sorbed by  the  chamber  or  will  be  co-ordinated  with  its  main  pur- 
pose. In  the  larger  cities  these  specialized  organizations,  such  as 
those  of  retail  dealers,  of  dealers  in  single  commodities,  of  credit 
men,  of  superintendents  of  factories,  of  manufacturers, — each  of 
these  will  maintain  its  own  organization,  but  will  be  co-ordinated 
with  all  the  other  commercial  interests  of  the  community  thru  the 
chamber. 

in  smaller  centers  the  chamber  will  be  a more  highly  centralized 
body,  and  will  render  unnecessary  the  separate  organization  of 
groups,  as  in  the  cities. 

In  any  case,  it  is  now  recognized  to  be  a short-sighted  policy 
which  organizes  the  economic  interests  of  the  community  and  pro- 
motes them  in  disregard  of  the  other  agencies  at  work  in  other 
fields.  Life  is  not  capable  of  rigid  division  into  mutually  exclusive 
departments.  The  individual  lives  his  whole  life  all  the  time,  and 
the  same  is  finally  true  also  of  the  community.  No  one  can  say 
arbitrari'y  where  the  spiritual  leaves  off  and  the  economic  be- 
gins, nor  vice  versa.-  No  agency  can  supply  a complete  and  bal- 
anced leadership  which  does  not  keep  all  these  interests  in  view,  and 
does  not  give  each  its  place  in  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  one  fabric 
the  community  is  weaving. 

The  Community’s  Economic  Base 

Yet  none  should  blind  his  eyes, — not  even  the  most  spiritually- 
minded  nor  the  individual  professionally  committed  to  advancing 
the  spiritual  interests  of  the  community, — to  the  essential  character 
of  the  community’s  economic  interests.  Good  business,  efficient  indus- 
tries, thoroly  developt  resources,  able  and  aggressive  leadership  in  all 
financial  and  commercial  affairs,  are  vital  to  the  life  of  any  com- 
munity. Beautiful  sentiments  and  lofty  ideals  cannot  atone  for 
the  lack. 

And  all  these  good  things  will  not  come  of  the  wishing.  Some- 
body must  be  on  the  job.  Indeed,  everybody  must  be  on  the  job.  A 


62 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


community’s  business  cannot  be  turnd  over  to  a few  experts,  and 
the  citizenship  wash  its  hands  of  further  responsibility.  If  there 
is  any  one  phase  of  life  in  which  each  individual  is  everlastingly 
interested,  and  to  which  each  should  contribute  his  share  unfail- 
ingly, it  is  the  economic.  For  food  and  clothing  and  shelter  are 
absolutely  universal  needs.  Inefficiency  and  negligence  in  their 
supply  demoralize  a community  soonest  because  they  are  primary 
requirements.  Every  other  phase  of  life  must  suffer  if  these  are 
in  default. 

A chamber  of  commerce  does  well  to  stand  upon  this  platform, 
and  assert  its  prerogative.  It  has  a gospel  to  preach  as  well  as  a 
work  to  perform.  It  should  neither  practice  a “gross  materialism” 
nor  allow  partisans  of  other  causes  or  agencies  to  minimize  its 
service  to  the  community  by  sneers  about  “materialism.”  It  should 
frankly  glory  in  its  calling,  and  by  the  efficiency  and  lofty  motives 
put  into  its  task  reveal  the  essentially  spiritual  significance  of  its 
mission  among  the  “material”  interests  of  life. 

Methods  and  Programs 

Ingenuity  and  enterprise  are  the  prime  requisites  of  a success- 
ful chamber  of  commerce  and  an  economic  program.  No  com- 
munity can  succeed  merely  by  aping  some  other  successful  town. 
But  it  is  always  possible  for  the  intelligent  to  learn  by  the  successes 
and  failures  of  others.  So,  keep  eyes  and  ears  open  for  what  your 
neighbors,  far  and  near,  are  doing.  Then  go  them  one  better. 
There  is  no  bitterness  in  this  kind  of  rivalry.  Competition  be- 
comes objectionable  only  when  it  prevails  between  those  operating 
in  the  same  area  and  in  the  service  of  the  same  people. 

There  are  numerous  helpful  periodicals  in  this  field,  one  of  the 
most  adaptable  to  the  needs  of  all  kinds  of  communities  being  The 
American  City,  publisht  monthly  by  the  corporation  in  close  affilia- 
tion with  the  American  City  Bureau.  Helpful  book  literature  fills 
shelf  after  shelf  of  the  libraries. 

The  University  Extension  Division  feels  a keen  interest  in  the 
needs  of  the  smaller  communities,  and  will  be  increasingly  well 
equipt  to  offer  helpful  counsel  and  give  suggestive  references  to 
those  who  may  inquire.  Write  of  your  specific  problems  and  see 
how  far  we  can  get  in  common  counsels. 

THE  COMMUNITY  CENTER 

This  movement  has  taken  such  various  forms  and  run  out  in 
so  many  directions  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  treat  the  subject 
exhaustively  here.  But  enough  can  be  said  to  warm  ambitious 
communities  against  hit-or-miss,  haphazard  methods  in  promoting 
and  housing  their  community  projects. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  ^ . v . 63. 

The  School  Center 

The  community’s  attitude  towards  its  schools,  th<L School  pro- 
gram, the  use  of  its  school  buildings,  is  undergoing  prdfouhd’  change! 
Schools  are  not  for  the  young  alone.  We  are  awakening  to  the  fact 
that  the  school  is  almost  the'  only  institution  belonging  to  the  whole 
community  and  capable  of  expressing  its  higher  life.  Thus  the 
school  is  becoming  the  community  center,  especially  in  towns  and 
rural  communities  which  have  but  one  school  building. 

The  movement  is  quite  as  strong  also  in  the  largest  cities; 
where  the  school  system  is  highly  developt,  and  each  neighborhood 
has  a large  and  well-equipt  building  centrally  located!  It  is  very 
poor  economy  to  allow  this  expensive  property  to  stand  idle  dur- 
ing the  evenings  and  on  days  not  filld  with  the  conventional  school 
program.  A hundred  additional  uses  are  how  suggested.  Indeed,; 
any  use  to  which  the  buildings  are  adapted  or  can  be  adapted,  and 
where  the  interests  of  the  whole  community  are  servd,  has  become 
legitimate  in  the  minds  of  progressive  school  boards. 

Some  school  buildings  are  used  in  almost  every  part  seven* 
days  in  the  week  and  most  of  the  waking  hours  of  the  popula- 
tion. This  is  the  truest  kind  of  economy.  It  means  that  a radically 
new  conception  of  education  is  beginning  to  prevail,  and  the  com- 
mon life  is  enormously  enricht. 

Any  club  or  society  not  devoted  to  commercial  purposes,  and 
not  meant  to  serve  selfishly  a particular  group,  should  be  welcomd 
in  the  school  building. ' A schedule  can  be  readily  arranged  so  that 
one  will  not  interfere  with  another.  The  community  can  afford  to 
go  far  in  bearing  the  expense  of  maintaining  facilities  for  these 
organizations.  Perhaps  a small  rental  fee  to  cover  expenses  of  light 
and  heat  is  justified,,  but  it  should  be  kept  small.  The  community 
realizes  large  dividends  upon  its  investment  in  this  service. 

Memorial  Buildings 

To  commemorate  the  services  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the 
recent  war,  or  that  of  individual  citizens  in  whose  name  the  funds 
are  supp’ied,  community  center  buildings  are  now  being  erected  in 
many  localities.  Some  of  these  do  not  fall  directly  within  the 
scope  of  our  discussion,  because  their  uses  are  limited  to  the  activi- 
ties of  the  American  Legion  or  other  specifically  designated  organ- 
izations. The  true  community  center  is  as  broad  in  its  uses  as  is 
the  life  of  the  community,  and  all  groups  having  a service  to  render 
are  encouraged  to  claim  accommodations. 

Dedicating  the  buildings  as  memorials  is  a means  of  appealing' 
for  contributions.  The  appeal  is  popular,  and  enlists  the  support  of 
large  numbers  of  citizens  when  the  memorial  commemorates  the 


54 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


services  of  soldiers  and  sailors.  This  has  its  advantages,  aside  from 
the  honor  accorded  the  brave  men  who  servd  in  the  war.  Here 
and  there  towns  and  cities  use  imposing  memorial  buildings  erected 
by  individual  citizens  of  wealth  or  by  single  families. 

Equipment  thru  Public  Funds 

Another  way  is  to  vote  bonds,  and  thus  throw  the  burden  di- 
rectly upon  the  whole  community.  This  requires  a general  con- 
viction that  the  community  center  is  a good  thing,  and  a corres- 
ponding appreciation  of  its  uses.  As  the  movement  grows,  and  the 
public  intelligence  with  it,  this  will  undoubtedly  be  the  common 
means  of  providing  the  center. 

And  this  method  will  help  to  determine  the  character  of  the 
center.  When  the  building  is  secured  thru  taxation,  it  will  be  pland 
Lo  accommodate  branches  of  the  civil  government,  if  not  all  of 
them.  This  would  be  real  economy  in  small  communities,  and  the 
moral  effect  should  be  wholesome.  Government  is  now  too  com- 
monly “unclean"  in  the  conception  of  the  citizenship  generally,  and 
is  housd  where  professional  loafers  are  free  to  decorate  the  premises 
with  tobacco  spittle,  and  convert  the  public  sanctuary,  if  not  into 
a den  of  thieves,  still  into  a rendezvous  for  characters  and  transac- 
tions which  fall  short  of  the  loftiest  ideals  of  citizenship. 

By  identifying  more  of  the  citizens  and  more  of  their  interests 
with  the  seat  of  government,  government  will  be  ennobled  and  a 
livelier  sense  of  responsibility  for  their  civic  affairs  will  be  gen- 
erated among  all  classes. 

Civic  Center — Grouping  of  Public  Buildings 

As  the  common  life  becomes  more  complicated  and  broad,  and 
the  demand  for  public  buildings  increases,  it  is  found  economical, 
and  desirable  in  every  way,  to  concentrate  these  buildings  in  one 
locality. 

The  Federal  Government  long  ago  issued  a bulletin  presenting 
an  ideal  center  for  a rural  community.  At  a crossroads,  on  grounds 
accurately  and  tastefully  laid  out  for  the  purpose,  there  are  lo- 
cated the  school  with  its  gardens  and  agricu'tural  experiment  plot, 
the  church,  the  Grange  hall,  the  creamery,  and  such  other  public 
buildings  as  a particular  rural  community  may  require. 

Towns  and  smaller  cities  are  taking  affairs  in  time,  and  are 
concentrating  public  institutions,  working  thru  the  years  to  a well- 
conceived  plan.  One  town  of  ten  thousand  in  an  eastern  state,  has 
already  located  at  one  center  the  Public  Library,  the  church  hav- 
ing the  largest  membership,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
a half-million  dollar  high  school  building  is  now  being  erected, 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


65 


which  is  to  be  enlargd  later  by  the  expenditure  of  at  least  as 
much  again,  and  a plot  is  publicly  ownd  for  which  a city  hall  to 
house  the  public  offices  could  be  appropriately  used. 

One  Oklahoma  town,  sure  to  grow  to  considerable  importance, 
now  owns  forty  acres  on  the  highest  point  of  the  town  site  and 
which  the  town  is  now  enveloping.  A school  building  is  now  lo- 
cated on  the  plot,  and  another  is  contemplated  to  supplement  or 
take  the  place  of  the  old.  Many  of  the  citizens  believe  it  will 
be  an  all  but  fatal  mistake  if  this  tract  is  not  held  inviolate  for 
public  buildings,  surrounded,  as  the  extent  of  tract  permits,  by 
attractive  parking.  The  visitor  heartily  agrees  with  them. 

Large  cities  all  over  the  country  are  redeeming  the  short-sight- 
edness of  the  past  by  tearing  down  old  buildings,  and  providing 
great  civic  centers,  with  ample  open  spaces.  This  can  now  be  ac- 
complisht  on’y  at  prodigious  expense.  But  enlightend  citizens  are 
not  begrudging  such  expense.  Be  wise  in  time,  in  your  town,  and 
add  each  public  improvement  with  an  eye  to  the  long  future  as  well 
as  present  utility. 

Plan  of  Community  Center 

This  should  be  thoroly  characteristic  of  the  town  or  city.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  “city  or  town  plan- 
ning” which  is  strongly  urged  in  another  connection  in  this  pamph- 
let. 

Whether  all  facilities  should  be  under  one  roof,  or  in  a group 
of  buildings,  is  a question  which  the  size  of  the  community,  its 
traditions,  and  the  lay  of  the  land  must  determine. 

The  largest  liberality  should  guide  in  the  erection  of  the  build- 
ing or  buildings,  and  in  the  conduct  of  the  center.  Citizens  ought  to 
be  encouraged  to  house  their  clubs  and  societies  and  other  organiza- 
tions at  the  community  center.  Purely  commercial  and  selfishly 
money-making  enterprises  should  be  relegated  to  other  accommoda- 
tions, but  any  organization  which  has  a purpose  of  common  serv- 
ice, or  which  provides  for  the  improvement  of  any  considerable 
number  of  the  citizens  should  be  made  to  feel  at  home. 

The  more  intimate  the  contact  of  these  organizations  the  more 
certain  is  their  development  cf  a common  purpose,  and  the  fuller 
will  be  the  economy  of  effort  in  carrying  them  on.  Kept  far  apart, 
and  working  in  ignorance  of  what  each  is  doing  or  stands  for,  the 
more  likely  will  they  work  at  cro%s  purposes.  At  a common  center, 
the  more  promptly  also  will  they  get  together  when  the  time  comes 
for  all  to  unite  in  some  great  community  celebration  or  public 
service. 

There  is  already  a voluminous  literature,  outlining  ideal  com- 


66 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


munity  center  plans,  and  reporting  what  certain  communities  have 
accomplisht.  This  is  being  added  to  constantly.  Write  to  the  Ex- 
tension Division  explaining  just  how  far  your  plans  and  aspirations 
have  gone,  and  references  can  be  given  which  will  guide  in  taking 
the  next  step. 

GARDENS  AND  PARKS 

Playgrounds  and  recreation  facilities  are  essential  features  of 
the  program  already  discusst  under  another  section  in  this  pamphlet. 
Public  parks  are  essential  to  community  building,  and  cities  which 
neglected  to  provide  them  at  the  first  are  now  supplying  them  at 
large  expense.  Every  growing  town  should  take  a leaf  out  of  the 
book  of  experience,  and  provide  amply  for  a system  of  parks  while 
land  is  cheap.  No  considerate  real  estate  addition  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  corporation  without  the  cession  to  the  city  of  a 
creditable  open  park. 

But  the  plan  should  not  stop  with  this  elementary  provision. 
A city  may  maintain  a succession  of  very  comely  public  parks,  and 
yet  present  a very  unattractive  appearance  as  a whole,  the  very 
beauty  of  the  parks  setting  off  glaringly  the  carelessness  and  lack 
of  co-operation  among  the  citizens  in  the  ordering  of  their  home 
grounds.  The  “garden  city’’  is  the  latest  word  in  community  build- 
ing, as  it  was  a very  early  word  in  certain  of  the  older  countries 
of  Europe. 

This  enlists  all  citizens  to  fit  their  homes  into  and  maintain 
their  home  grounds  as  a part  of  a comprehensive  scheme.  Thus 
the  whole  town  becomes  one  symmetrically  conceivd  park.  This 
ideal  is  discust  under  the  stction  of  this  pamphlet  dealing  with 
city  or  town  planning. 

Mention  has  also  been  made  of  the  vacant  lot,  and  the  discredit 
of  allowing  vacant  spaces  privately  ownd  to  run  to  weeds  and  rub- 
bish. City  ordinances  can  be  enacted,  in  justice  to  all  .which  will 
require  property  owners  speculating  in  unimproved  land  to  recon- 
sider their  ways. 

An  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Community  Program 

As  a result  of  the  shock  of  the  war,  and  under  the  strain  of 
meeting  the  acute  housing  situation,  there  are  numerous  projects 
in  Europe  for  new  towns.  They  take  all  past  experiences  and 
demonstrated  needs  into  account.  It  is  noteworthy  that  they  make 
a definite  place  for  farm  and  garden  lands  which  will  supply  the 
community’s  immediate  needs  for  fresh  vegetables  and  fruits  as 
near  at  hand  as  possible  and  in  as  great  a variety  as  the  soil  and 
climate  of  the  particular  locality  will  permit. 

How  far  most  of  otir  American  towns  and  cities  are  from  such 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


67 


a program ! Even  rural  communities  often  go  without  supplies,  or 
ship  them  at  great  expense  from  a distance,  which  might  be  supplied 
in  abundance  immediately  from  their  own  soil. 

The  chief  attraction  of  the  village  or  small  town  is  the  chance 
to  have  a garden  at  the  door-step  and  to  be  near  the  source  of  food 
supply.  Yet  a few  communities  capitalize  this  advantage  with  any 
markt  intelligence.  Those  living  nearest  these  sources  of  supply 
have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  securing  what  they  want,  and  at  the 
same  time  enough  food  goes  to  waste  in  our  American  home 
gardens  to  feed  the  entire  population  of  many  of  the  over-crowded 
European  countries.. 

Almost  nowhere  is  there  any  comprehensive  plan  on  a com- 
munity scale.  Each  family  raises  a little  bit  of  this  vegetable  and 
a little  bit  of  the  other,  or  twice  or  thrice  the  quantity  of  another  as 
it  can  possibly  use.  One  family  goes  without  and  its  neighbor 
recklessly  tramples  under  foot  an  excess. 

A community  budget  of  agricultural  and  horticultural  supplies 
for  each  season  would  be  a relatively  simple  matter  to  arrange.  It 
would  not  be  desirable  to  restrict  the  liberty  of  any  householder 
to  provide  what  and  how  much  he  might  choose  of  each  pro- 
duct in  his  own  grounds,  but  if  he  knew  what  the  total  demand 
of  the  community  was  likely  to  be,  and  what  his  neighbors  are 
preparing  to  supply,  he  could  plan  his  own  gardening  much  more 
intelligently,  all  would  save  a prodigious  amount  of  effort  now 
wasted,  and  the  needs  of  all  would  be  adequately  met. 

Enlisting  the  Children  and  the  Idle 

It  has  never  been  found  very  difficult  to  arouse  enthusiasm 
among  school  children  in  home  gardening.  Nor  has  it  been  found 
impossible  to  bestir  adult  idlers  out  of  their  lethargy  for  a season 
or  two.  But  it  is  the  common  experience  that  the  enthusiasm 
speedily  dissipates.  This  is  ordinarly  accounted  for  by  the  innate 
laziness  of  human  nature ; which  is  a very  superficial  and  there- 
fore erroneous  diagnosis.  The  deeper  cause  runs  into  this  planless- 
ness of  home  gardening. 

Few  know  how  to  raise  everything,  or  can  maintain  their 
enthusiasm  in  trying  to  learn  how.  A community  garden  budget 
would  enable  those  with  special  enthusiasm  to  follow  their  bent 
with  assurance  that  their  surplus  would  be  taken  off  their  hands. 
They  would  also  have  assurance  that  what  they  do  not  like  to  raise 
but  do  like  to  eat  would  be  forthcoming  from  some  other  source 
than  their  own  garden. 

It  is  certain  that  the  enthusiasm  of  school  children  could  be 


68 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


maintained  more  constantly  if  there  were  such  an  organization  of 
the  community’s  supply  and  demand  that  a group  of  youngsters 
could  specialize  on  a particular  product  with  assurance  of  a market. 
When  a boy  or  girl,  or  a group  of  them,  work  hard  all  of  one  sea- 
son raising  a quantity  of  certain  vegetables,  only  to  find  them 
worthless  on  a glutted  market,  naturally  their  enthusiasms  are 
dampend. 

Nor  without  a plan  can  any  but  the  exceptional  youngster 
gain  the  mastery  of  a particular  culture  without  that  experience; 
he  suffers  the  fate  of  the  “Jack  of  all  trades.”  An  intelligent  sys- 
tem of  specialization  in  community  gardening  would  go  far  toward 
curing  the  tendency  to  throw  up  the  job  and  quit,  which  has  been 
the  bane  of  most  effort  among  school  children. 

THE  SCHOOL 

The  school  is  or  should  be  a community  force  of  the  first  im- 
portance. As  the  discussion  in  other  sections  of  this  pamphlet 
has  brought  out,  the  school  is  the  outstanding  institution  of  the 
American  democracy.  This  is  due  partly  to  the  inherent  quality  and 
purpose  of  schools,  and  partly  to  peculiarities  in  our  traditions  which 
grow  out  of  chance  as  much  as  fundamental  considerations. 

Other  institutions  are  quite  as  essential  to  a full-rounded  demo- 
cratic society,  but  we  have  so  far  faild  to  democratize  them  to  the 
extent  of  the  schools.  Happily  the  school  is  far  on  the  way,  and 
promises  rapid  progress  still  in  the  same  direction. 

Expanding  the  school  program  until  it  shall  include  the  adult 
life  is  a markd  advance.  Another  is  the  broadening  of  the  school 
curriculum  untn  it  shall  furnish  more  than  academic  learning,  and 
shall  prepare  for  vocations  and  lay  the  foundations  generally  for 
efficient  citizenship. 

Every  one  recognizes  that  perils  attend  such  development. 
Methods  and  aims  of  academic  culture  are  establisht  by  long  years 
of  experiment,  and  the  traditions  of  many  generations  furnish  a 
guide.  The  new  and  expanded  school  program  invades  fields  never 
before  explord.  There  must  be  much  wandering  here  and  there 
before  the  best  course  shall  be  hit  upon.  But  the  new  aims 
are  true.  It  is  the  business  of  the  schools  to  prepare  for  a com- 
plete citizenship. 

Great  and  Varied  Problems 

It  is  not  at  all  the  intention  of  this  pamphlet  to  enter  the  field 
of  school  method,  even  for  the  detaild  definition  of  the  community 
features  of  the  approvd  school  program.  Well-traind  educators 
are  already  in  touch  with  the  wonderfully  inspiring  new  literature 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


69 


which  covers  this  field.  Leadership  is  not  so  backward  as  is  the 
public  intelligence  and  aspiration.  Almost  any  school  management 
is  eager  to  make  the  school  program  better,  and  shape  it  to  serve 
community  interests  more  largely  than  it  is  permitted  to  do  by 
reactionary,  school  boards  and  indifferent  citizens.  For  all  our 
communities  we  must  devise  means  of  dispelling  this  indifference, 
and  regenerating  school  boards  either  in  the  present  personnel 
or  by  substituting  new. 

Perhaps  the  first  and  best  step  in  the  average  community  is 
the  gathering  of  a considerable  group  of  citizens  who  will  patiently 
and  systematically  study  school  problems,  independently  of  official 
positions  which  they  may  or  may  not  hold.  Since  we  have  demo- 
cratized our  schools,  they  are  safe  only  in  the  control  of  a citizen- 
ship made  intelligent  thru  and  thru.  A few  cannot  elect  capable 
school  boards.  A few  cannot  make  the  schools  what  they  should 
be.  A few  cannot  vote  bonds.  A few  cannot  successfully  back 
progressive  school  policies  against  ignorant  and  short-sighted  op- 
position. Many  must  take  hold,  must  make  themselves  wise  about 
approved  methods,  must  appreciate  the  place  of  the  school  in  a 
progressive  democracy. 

Convincing  the  Public 

After  the  many  students  of  school  problems  are  enlightend, 
there  remains  the  mass  of  the  citizenship.  They  must  be  “brought 
along”  also.  They  must  be  convinced.  To  do  this,  let  the  schools 
render  them  service,  practical,  unmistakeable  service,  within  the 
range  of  their  experience  and  aspirations.  They  have  a right  to 
expect  and  demand  this.  The  schools  cannot  remain  high-brow  and 
dull  if  their  appeal  is  to  reach  the  low-brow  and  alert. 

After  all,  the  most  serious  barriers  to  school  progress  are 
those  erected  by  the  intellectual  traditionalists.  If  the  schools  give 
the  people  what  the  people  want,  they  will  not  fail  of  support. 
Academic  minds  are  still  in  such  general  control  of  school  policy 
that  the  plain  people  have  not  come  to  appreciate  the  school’s 
significance  for  them  in  their  daily  and  personal  affairs.  Adults 
remember  how  commonly  they  were  bored  by  their  schooling,  and 
they  retain  a vague  consciousness  that  they  ought  to  have  done 
better.  They  are  thus  too  often  content  to  have  their  children  traind 
after  a similar  fashion,  and  to  add  their  arbitrary  compulsion  to 
that  of  the  school  discipline  in  the  hope  that  these  combined  rigors 
will  do  .better  by  their  children  than  the  school  was  able  to  do  by 
them  in  their  childhood. 

Schools  which  aid  adults  as  well  as  their  children,  and  render 
a service  to  both  which  each  and  both  are  at  the  time  conscious 


70 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


of  needing  and  can  daily  evaluate,  will  have  the  enthusiastic  back- 
ing of  their  communities  all  the  time.  Bonds  will  be  voted  freely, 
school  taxes  will  be  paid  cheerfully  and  progressive  management 
will  be  supported  at  every  turn.  Schools  which  insist  upon  giving 
what  neither  parents  nor  children  are  persuaded  they  need  will  be 
forever  in  the  dumps,  leading  struggling  existences,  and  dragging 
their  community  down  with  them. 

Parents’  and  Teachers’  Associations 

These  are  often  immense  value.  In  other  cases  they  putter 
and  languish,  or  even  foment  trouble.  All  depends  upon  the  spirit 
of  good-will  and  degree  of  intelligence  put  into  them.  Of  course 
parents  and  the  teachers  of  their  children  should  be  on  good  terms. 
Any  kind  of  organization  which  helps  to  this  end  is  all  to  the  good. 
Training  the  child  is  a partnership  between  these  two  classes,  and 
the  child  sorely  suffers  if  they  are  in  disagreement,  or  ignorantly 
work  at  cross  purposes. 

There  is  almost  universal  comp’aint  among  teachers  of  the 
social  indifference  of  parents.  The  teacher  is  rarely  invited  to 
homes  to  share  the  social  life  of  his  pup. is.  Some  commun.ties 
regularly  lose  the  most  of  their  teachers  every  year  or  two,  the 
good  with  the  bad,  because  of  the  social  ostracism  they  suffer. 

The  Association  is  sometimes  maintaind  to  attempt  to  atone 
wholesale  for  this  neglect.  Parents’  consciences  have  grown  sensi- 
tive, and  they  suppose  that  by  herding  the  teachers  into  occasional 
general  gatherings  they  can  meet  them  near  enough  to  avoid  the 
more  intimate  contacts  involvd  in  an  equal  social  status.  Of 
course  they  in  the  end  discover  the  deception  in  this  move,  as  the 
teachers  are  likely  very  soon  to  discover  it. 

To  win  a dignified  social  status,  the  teacher  must  herself  be 
worthy  of  it.  The  problem  is  a mutual  affair,  and  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully solvd  by  one  party  alone.  The  management  carries  the 
primary  and  graver  responsibility,  for  dignified  salaries  and  care- 
ful selection  will  insure  a higher  order  of  teaching  personnel,  and 
then  no  home  will  fail  to  welcome  the  worthy  teacher.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  the  social  circles  of  the  community  crowd  the 
teaching  profession  out  on  general  principles,  the  worthy  will  be 
far  less  inclined  to  brave  the  ostracism  to  which  teachers  are  now 
much  too  commonly  subjected. 

The  University  and  the  Schools 

At  no  point  is  the  University  so  directly  concernd  in  our  com- 
munity task  as  here.  The  public  institutions  of  higher  learning  are 
the  heads  of  the  public  school  system,  and  the  University  is  held 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


71 


responsible  for  leadership  in  educational  standards  and  methods. 
Thru  its  department  of  Education  and  thru  every  branch  of  the 
Extension  Division  it  is  at  the  service  of  all  the  people  of  the  state. 

No  inquiry  which  promises  improvement  to  your  schools  should 
be  withheld,  where  the  University  in  any  department  can  be  of 
service.  The  University’s  highest  ambition  is  to  help  develop  a 
school  system  which  will  make  Oklahoma  second  to  none  in  the 
American  Union  in  the  matter  of  thoro,  practical,  community-build- 
ing schools. 

THE  CHURCHES. 

Religion  is  the  soul  of  the  community  life.  Between  the  realiza- 
tion of  this  ideal  and  the  program  of  our  official  religious  organi- 
zations there  is  a hiatus  which  must  give  us  all  more  and  more 
deep  concern  as  long  as  present  conditions  prevail. 

Religion,  historically  and  accurately  conceivd,  is  the  bond  which 
holds  communities  together.  The  term  itself  is  derived  from  a 
Latin  root  which  signifies  “bind.”  Yet  our  institutions  which  offi- 
cially mediate  religion  are  often  the  most  fruitful  and  fatal  breed- 
ers of  faction.  This  is  not  only  the  observation  of  lay  students  of 
our  community  problems,  and  of  the  common  citizen,  but  it  is  the 
testimony  of  numerous  pastors  and  ministers  of  religion. 

Manifestly  these  conditions  cannot  continue  indefinitely.  If 
they  are  not  cured  thru  activities  and  policies  of  the  churches  them- 
selves, they  will  be  thru  community  forces  working  independently 
of  the  present  official  religious  organizations. 

The  Federation  of  Churches 

Much  has  been  hoped  from  a movement  which  has  for  some 
time  sought  to  bring  the  churches  of  a given  community  into  work- 
ing agreements  thru  federation,  while  preserving  for  each  its 
denominational  or  sectarian  autonomy.  This  movement  has  been 
successful  in  a limited  number  of  cases.  But  the  movement  as  a 
whole  has  fallen  far  short  of  what  its  promoters  hoped  for. 

And  the  difficulties  would  seem  to  be  inherent.  To  remain 
sector  denomination-minded  and  at  the  same  time  to  become  com- 
munity-minded is  difficult  under  the  most  favorable  conditions, 
and  often  it  is  quite  impossible  even  to  maintain  the  pretense.  To 
live  by  the  cultivation  of  the  factional  spirit,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  serve  efficiently  the  commun'ty  life,  involve  logical  embarrass- 
ments which  no  church  can  wholly  overcome. 

As  a consequence  the  so-called  federation  of  churches  remain  weak 
and  more  or  less  fanciful,  or  else  the  federated  group  tend  to  merge 
into  a unity,  and  thus  lose  their  denominational  identity.  This  the 


72 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


national  organizations  of  the  several  denominations  as  a rule  de- 
plore and  resist,  and  thus  the  federations  dissolve  or  remain  only 
nominal.  The  churches  therefore  remain  a factional  influence  and 
weaken  rather  than  strengthen  the  community  movement. 

The  same  consideration  affect  associations  of  ministers.  In 
addition  the  rapidly  changing  personnel  of  the  pastors  is  a great 
discouragement.  Often  a vigorous  ministers’  organization  is  no 
more  than  formd  and  undertakes  aggressive  measures  of  co-opera- 
tion in  the  service  of  the  whole  community,  when  the  pastor  of  one 
of  the  key  churches  removes  from  the  town,  and  his  successor 
proves  uncongenial  to  the  co-operative  movement.  Since  the 
churches  are  so  largely  controld  by  the  policies  and  leadership 
of  the  ordained  ministry,  this  becomes  a serious  handicap  to  the 
community  service  of  denominational  churches. 

Community  Churches 

These  are  a recent  development.  They  have  sprung  up  spon- 
taneously. There  is  no  national  or  state  agency  promoting  them. 
There  are  said  to  be  more  than  five  hundred  churches  using  this 
name  in  the  United  States.  The  name,  however,  carries  with  it  little 
significance.  A large  proportion  of  those  using  the  term  are  in 
no  vital  respect  different  from  the  conventional  sectarian  or  de- 
nominational organization,  but  employ  the  name  to  win,  if  possible, 
a wider  support  from  the  community.  They,  no  more  than  others, 
yield  to  the  organized  control  of  the  community  as  a whole. 

In  many  other  cases  these  community  churches  are  simply 
somewhat  more  liberal  in  their  creeds  than  are  the  more  conserva- 
tive denominations.  This  sometimes  leaves  them  weak;  the  mem- 
bers, not  being  expected  to  believe  much  of  anything,  fall  short 
also  of  doing  much  of  anything.  On  the  other  hand,  their  creeds 
are  sometimes  so  rigid  as  to  admit  a majority  of  the  citizens  only 
because  the  residents  of  the  region  chance  to  come  of  the  same  or 
similar  religious  traditions;  the  church  can  offer  no  congenial 
religious  home  to  newcomers  with  different  traditions. 

In  short,  there  are  few  or  no  community  churches,  organized 
democraticaky,  capable  of  expressing  the  changing  aspirations  of 
the  population.  Perhaps  the  movement  will  develop  a type  ere 
long  capable  of  serving  this  purpose,  and  adaptable  to  the  whole 
religious  life  of  the  community. 

Religion  and  the  Community 

It  has  for  so  long  been  held  as  a sacred  American  tradition  that 
the  public,  as  such,  should  let  religion  alone,  that  there  is  little  com- 
mon intelligence  on  which  a thoro  discussion  of  this  subject  can  be 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


73 


based.  Religious  freedom  is  the  priceless  boon  bequeatht  by  the 
fathers  of  the  Republic.  We  cannot  value  it  too  highly  or  honor 
them  too  much  for  their  service. 

It  is  a question  whether  we  are  not  in  the  way  of  losing  this 
boon  by  a let-alone  policy.  Many  communities  are  now  far  from 
enjoying  religious  liberty.  The  bondage  is  sometimes  the  more  try- 
ing that  it  is  imposed  by  bitterly  competing  sects,  who  seem  the 
more  arbitrary  in  that  they  cannot  agree  among  themselves,  either 
as  to  what  is  of  the  highest  benefit  for  the  individual  or  for  society 
as  a whole. 

All  this  is  keenly  appreciated  by  numerous  leaders  of  the  pres- 
ent religious  system,  and  no  subject  is  more  vigorously  discust  in 
religious  and  certain  secular  journals  than  the  principles  and  prac- 
tical methods  by  which  these  serious  conditions  can  be  met.  The 
public  must  see  more  and  more  clearly  that  the  problem  is  not  one 
alone  for  the  professional  religious  leader.  It  is  one  in  which  the 
public  is  directly  and  vitally  concernd.  Some  of  the  most  intimate 
and  precious  values  of  the  community  life  are  at  stake. 

Our  traditions  largely  debar  the  public  educational  system  from 
entering  this  field.  The  University,  as  such,  has  no  solution  to 
offer.  It  must  suffice  here  to  point  out  the  serious  handicap  under 
which  the  community  movement  must  work  so  long  as  religion  is 
mediated  by  organizations  whose  traditions  and  present  existence 
seem  to  their  leaders  so  plainly  to  commit  them  to  policies  and 
activities-  which  breed  faction  rather  than  inspire  unity  in  the 
community  life. 

The  community  movement  must  languish  without  the  support 
of  the  religious  spirit,  and  if  the  spirit  which  is  required  to  sup- 
port the  community  purposes  cannot  be  cultivated  by  the  official 
agencies  of  religion,  it  must  be  generated  otherwise  The  religious 
impulse,  universal  in  men,  must  be  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  demo- 
cracy. Otherwise  our  community  life  must  continue  to  limp  and 
fail,  and  our  whole  program  of  democracy  with  it. 

FRATERNAL  ORDERS,  MUTUAL  BENEFIT  ASSOCIA- 
TIONS AND  CLUBS 

These  are  too  numerous  and  of  too  varied  purpose  to  admit 
of  detaild  discussion  here.  The  activities  of  some  have  little  direct 
bearing  upon  our  problems,  any  way.  Yet  it  is  heartening  and 
exceedingly  suggestive  to  observe  how  generally  they  are  taking 
on  a community  purpose. 

Orders  of  hcary  traditions,  long  devoted  exclusively  to  the 
welfare  of  their  immediate  membership,  are  now  adopting  pro- 


74 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


grams  of  community  service,  and  are  even  revising  their  creeds  or 
constitutions  to  inspire  such  outreach.  New  types  of  clubs  and 
fraternities  are  springing  up  in,  whose  constitutions  the  community 
obligation  is  writ  large  and  compelling. 

In  no  group  are  these  signs  more  markt  than  among  the  wom- 
en’s clubs.  The  academic,  literary  and  “cultural”  programs  of  a 
while  ago  have  very  largely  given  place  to  civic  discussions  and 
activities.  In  the  propaganda  and  policies  of  the  national  organiza- 
tions. and  in  the  national  pub’ications  serving  the  women’s  clubs, 
this  change  is  reveald. 

New  organizations,  such  as  the  Rotary,  Kiwanis  and  Lion  clubs, 
have  inscribed  the  civic  purpose  cenfral  in  their  constitutions.  The 
good  fellowship  among  their  own  immediate  members  is  often  de- 
clared to  be  subordinate  to,  or  a means  to  the  larger  end,  of  serv- 
ice to  the  common  good.  These  organizations  have  in  many  in- 
stances signally  renderd  this  service  to  which  they  aspire.  Their 
future  is  in  the  minds  of  some  of  their  most  enthusiastic  supporters 
problematic.  Much  will  depend  upon  their  demonstrated  capacity 
to  co-operate  with  each  other,  and.  in  the  sharp  rivalry  which  their 
growing  numbers  and  mutual  independence  tend  to  induce,  it  re- 
mains to  be  d’scoverd  how  far  their  energies  will  be  absorbd  in 
destructive  or  at  . least  unf ru  tful  competition,  and  how  far  in  zeal 
for  the  whole  interests  of  the  whole  community. 

The  Ku  Kjux  Klan  has  been  revived.  During  the  trying  years 
of  carpet-bag  domination  and  social  chaos  in  the  south,  that  sec- 
tion believd  that  the  Klan  renderd  a needful  if  not  altogether  nec- 
essary service.  Its  reputation  became  very  unsavory  as  its  activi- 
ties were  reported  to  other  sections  of  the  country,  and  the  na- 
tional sentiment  thus  arousd  doubtless  had  much  to  do  with  its 
suppression  or  subsidence  for  a number  of  years.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  the  revived  plan  is  very  sensitive  and  its  highest  officials  feel 
it  incumbent  upon  them  to  defend  the  patriotic  and  disinterested 
social  purpose  of  the  organization.  They  even  propose  to  strip  away 
its  historic  secrecy  of  oath  and  obligations  of  membership,  so 
as  to  demonstrate  its  al’eged  constructive  social  aims. 

No  sweeping  movement  wrll  probably  ever  gain  head  without 
avowing  such  aims,  and  its  vitality  and  permanence  will  be  directly 
determined  by  the  sincerity  of  the  profession.  Not  less  determina- 
tive of  the  future  of  establisht  clubs  and  associations  and  social 
orders  will  be  this  same  purpose.  As  already  remarkt,  the  oldest 
of  them  are  finding  it  necessary  to  direct  their  energies  to  the  com- 
mon service.  The  community  movement  is  the  dominant  charac- 
teristic of  our  age,  and  all  the  forces  and  tendencies  of  the  future, 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  75 

as  long  as  the  future  may  now  be  predicted,  would  seem  to  be 
making  for  its  support. 

THE  INDIVIDUAL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 

The  discussion  thruout  the  preceding  paragraphs  has  constantly 
emphasized  the  logical  fulfilment  of  the  individual  in  a construc- 
tive and  intelligent  service  to  society.  The  greatest  are  those  who 
serve  most  largely  and  efficiently.  Even  the  selfish  must  seem  to 
serve  the  common  good,  to  “get  away  with”  their  self-seeking. 

The  politician,  scheming  for  his  own  interests,  must  learn  a 
lingo  of  “public  service”  and  boast  loudly  of  his  devotion  to  the 
“peepul.”  The  “pubTic-be-damned”  industrial  corporation  has  either 
disappeard,  or  those  remaining  must  put  on  servile  manners  to  cover 
their  real  intentions.  The  merchant  who  receives  his  barter  as  a 
device  thru  which  he  may  enrich  himself  at  the  expense  of  his 
victims  is  going  to  the  wall.  Where  the  whole  business  interests  of 
a community  are  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  merchants  of  this 
type,  competitors  are  destroying  each  other,  and  in  utter  despair 
of  salvation  at  home,  the  people  of  the  community  are  going  far 
afield  to  the  mail-order  house,  or  neighboring  trade  centers,  where 
the  ideals  of  common  service  are  the  law  of  trade. 

No  individual  can  live  with  satisfaction  to  himself  or  with 
the  approval  of  his  fellows  who  lives  in  and  for  himself.  The 
surest  claim  to  front  page  eminence  in  the  newspapers  is  eminent 
public  service  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  amast  great  fortunes 
from  the  common  stores.  Even  those  whom  the  laws  of  the  land 
and  the  prevailing  social  conventions  permit  to  accummulate  these 
large  holdings  in  their  individual  right,  are  not  permitted  to  have 
and  hold  them  purely  for  their  own  pleasure  and  diversion.  There 
is  no  surer  means  of  gaining  the  reproach  and  scorn  of  their 
fellows  than  by  such  a mis-conceivd  policy. 

Parallel  with  the  screaming  headlines  which  proclaim  in  the 
newspapers  the  public  benefactions  of  the  wealthy  are  those  which 
even  more  loudly  denounce  the  excesses  and  extravagances  of  the 
rich.  Such  publicity  the  individuals  concernd  and  the  public  gen- 
erally accept  as  a rebuke.  Tho  reported  without  editorial  or  moral- 
izing comment,  the  facts  speak  for  themselves,  and  constitute  an 
indictment  from  which  the  most  reckless  rich  cringes  as  from 
a scourge. 

The  furtherance  of  this  movement  depends  more  than  upon 
anything  else,  on  the  persistent  accummulation  of  just  this  kind  of 
sentiment.  If  citizens  will  continue  vividly  to  think  in  the  terms 
of  the  common  interest,  will  talk  of  its  ideals,  will  weigh  the  pro- 
fessions of  those  who  lay  the  loudest  claims  to  its  devotion,  will 


76 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


throw  their  fullest  energies  into  the  organizations  which  keep  these 
ideals  purest  and  practice  their  precepts  with  the  greatest  sincerity, 
will  define  success  in  the  terms  not  of  selfish  acquisition  but  of 
skilful  and  undaunted  labors  for  the  common  good, — if  these  senti- 
ments may  be  made  to  prevail,  they  will  win  the  day.  Methods  and 
program  must  bend  to  their  demands. 

In  the  operations  of  these  impalpable  forces  all  have  their 
part.  Whether  he  will  or  no,  each  contributes  a share  in  the  crea- 
tion of  public  sentiment.  Silence  is  often  more  potent  than  boister- 
ous speech,  or  sledge-hammer  blows.  None  is  so  powerful  or  self- 
containd  as  to  endure  permanently  the  scorn  or  grievd  disappoint- 
ment of  the  society  of  which  he  is  a part.  The  humblest,  daily  prac- 
ticing good-will,  can  bring  the  proudest  self-seeker  to  his  knees  or 
flat  in  the  dust  of  contrition  and  self-reproach. 

Thus  the  common  good  is  finally  in  the  hands  of  the  common 
citizen.  His  mind  finally  controls.  His  good-will  and  his  ill-will 
make  or  destroy  the  society  on  whose  health  high  and  low  alike 
depend. 


CONCLUDING  REMARK 

Here  must  be  stated  again  what  was  remarkt  at  the  start,  and 
which  has  been  repeated  frequently  thruout  the  foregoing  discussion: 
this  pamph'et  aims  only  to  raise  questions  and  suggest  subject  for 
thought  and  discussion.  Every  one  of  the  topics  treated  is  capable 
of  expansion  into  a volume.  Almost  every  one  has  been  so  treated, 
some  in  many  a volume.  The  topics  are  here  assembled  so  as 
to  encourage  readers  to  pursue  the  study  further,  and  in  the  at- 
tempt to  show  by  bringing  them  together  how  all  are  related  to  the 
one  task  of  community-building. 

Even  more  frequently  has  this  pamphlet  repeated  the  aim  and 
desire  of  the  University  to  render  a wide  community  service  espec- 
ially in  its  own  state.  For  this  it  exists,  for  this  it  bears  its  name, 
and  for  this  the  financial  and  moral  support  of  the  entire  citizen- 
ship ordains  and  endows  it.  Use  your  University.  Take  counsel 
with  its  force  of  workers,  and  put  them  in  the  way  of  taking 
counsel  with  you.  Let  it  be  the  highest  ambition  of  every  citizen 
and  every  public  servant  to  fulfill  in  a wholesome  and  high-minded 
and  one-sould  life  the  marvelous  promise  which  abounding  resources 
of  nature  below  the  soil,  on  the  surface  and  in  the  brilliant  air 
above,  have  beneficiently  vouchsafed  in  this  great  state  of  the 
American  Union. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 

APPENDIX  A 


77 


COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES 

Fo’lowing  are  numerous  topics  for  study,  and  to  suggest 
activities  wh:'ch  may  be  undertaken  by  clubs,  societies  and  indi- 
viduals in  each  community,  either  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
Community  Council,  or  upon  their  own  init:ative.  The  perils  of 
unrelated  activities  on  the  part  of  volunteer  groups  have  been 
pointed  out  in  this  pamphlet.  Each  project  should  have  back 
of  it  the  sympathy  and  reasonable  inte’ligence  of  the  community. 
But  none  of  these  desirable  enterprises  will  put  itself  thru,  and 
none  will  even  be  started  until  citizens  individually  interest  them- 
selves . 

These  suggestions  are^offerd,  therefore,  for  study  on  the  part 
of  all.  Each  citizen  shou’d  select  one  or  more,  and  master  his 
selection  in  the  interests  of  the  common  good.  The  community 
council  or  other  organizations  responsible  for  community  pro- 
gress should  be  constantly  at  work  selecting  those  most  de- 
sirable and  feasible  for  their  particular  community,  and  should 
push  for  their  realization  . 

The  classilcation  is  rough,  and  only  catchwords  are  used, 
allow’ng  the  reader’s  imagination  to  fill  out  the  suggestion  in- 
tended. 

Town  and  Country 

Improved  agricultural  methods.  Discussions  by  agricul- 
tural experts.  Study  Clubs.  Increased  production.  Soil  anal- 
ysis and  fertilizers.  Improved  machinery.  Grading  of  stock. 
Utilizing  serv’ces  of  state  and  national  agricultural  institutions 
and  departments. 

Co-operative  enterprises.  Public  improvements.  Bridges. 
Promotion  of  creameries  and  factories  for  farm  products, 
brooms,  canneries,  banks,  supply  stores,  mass  buying  and  sell- 
ing. 

Public  Health.  County  nurses.  Red  Cros^  and  relief  work 
in  cases  of  fire  and  flood.  Domestic  conveniences.  Household 
and  farm  sanitation.  Town  rest  rooms  for  farmers’  wives  and 
children. 

Markets.  Better  prices  for  farm  products.  Organizing  sales. 
Opening  new  markets.  Developing  new  products  to  meet  new 
market  demands. 

Recreation.  Entertainments.  Lectures  and  lantern  slides. 


78 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


Concerts,  Games,  meets  and  athletic  contests.  Picnics,  joint 
celebrations. 

The  young  on  the  farm.  Encourage  interest  in  country  life. 
Organization  of  pig,  corn,  chicken,  canning,  and  other  clubs. 
Exchange  visits.  Junior  chamber  of  commerce  activities. 

Transportation.  Good  roads.  Trucking  routes  to  crea- 
meries and  to  vegetable  and  grain  markets.  Vigorous  propa- 
ganda on  relation  of  good  transportation  to  high-grade  com- 
munity life. 

Fairs  and  Exhibits.  Premiums  and  honors  for  notable 
achievement  in  production  or  pub’ic  service.  Fair  treatment  in 
prices.  Rebuke  to  exploitation  and  profiteering.  Employment 
bureaus  for  farm  help.  Committee  rooms  and  other  accommo- 
dations for  farmers  in  town. 

BUSINESS 

Advertising.  Signs,  bill-boards,  light  signs,  displays  on 
envelopes,  newspaper  campaign.  Reaching  the  public  and 
avoiding  offense  to  public  taste.  Post  card  days:  all  send  post 
cards  advertising  the  town.  Poster  advertising:  get  school 
children  to  write,  offering  honors  and  prizes  for  the  best. 

Co-operaticn.  In  buying,  in  advertising,  in  extending  cred- 
its, in  establishing  efficiency  standards.  Outlook  committees 
to  seek  business  opportunities,  prevent  overproduction  and  all 
kinds  of  overreaching,  to  discover  needs  and  insure  their  supply, 
regulate  number  of  stores,  reduce  overhead  expense  and  cut 
out  waste. 

Business  surveys.  Marking  out  trade  .territory,  in  square 
miles,  in  assest  values  and  resources,  in  volume  of  trade,  at 
home  and  in  distant  markets.  Needs  and  problems,  supply  and 
demand,  sources  of  wealth,  undeveloped  fields. 

Business  promotion.  Offers  of  free  or  favorable  sites  for 
factories.  Intelligent  planning  of  business  section,  retail  area, 
wholesale  and  factory  areas.  Co-operative  factory  projects  for 
small  industries,  with  central  power,  light,  heat,  and  transporta- 
tion. Assembling  of  community  products  in  permanent  displays; 
seasonal  fairs  and  exhibits  at  home  and  at  state  or  national 
centers.  Municipal  photograph  galleries,  with  permanent  collec- 
tions showing  buildings,  building  sites,  scenes  of  historic  signi- 
ficance, business  facts  and  records;  co-operation  with  museum  in 
preserving  business  history.  Provision  of  prizes  and  honors 
for  home  products. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


79 


City  Beautiful 

Parks  and  gardens,  public  and  private,  as  features  of  com- 
prehensive city  planning.  City  beautiful  campaigns  to  arouse 
*■  community  pride.  Lectures,  and  motion  and  still  pictures,  to 

promote  popular  interest.  Prizes  and  honors  in  reward  of  pri- 
vate and  public  effort. 

Flowers.  Organization  of  garden  clubs.  Study  of  native 
flora.  Wild  flower  exhibits.  Rare  flower  exhibitions.  Endless 
flower  chains:  give  seeds  to  those  who  will  pass  them  on  next 
year  Seasqnal  Power  shows:  chrysanthemum,  roses,  peonies, 
dahlias,  and  various  native  and  exotic  flowers.  Plant  exchange 
days:  vegetables  and  flowers  exchanged  among  neighbors. 
Prizes  for  best  window  boxes  and  down-town  flower  plots. 

Trees.  Plott’ng  the  town  to  insure  desirable  harmony,  and 
variety  in  tree  culture.  Tree  planting  days.  Children’s  trees,  with  re- 
cord of  dates,  names  of  planters,  significance  of  occasion.  Save-the- 
trees  campaigns,  tree  surgery,  fighting  pests,  intelligent  and 
seasonal  pruning.  Organizing  experts,  official  and  private,  as  per- 
manent commission,  to  maintain  commuity  policy  for  planting, 
cutting  out  excessive  growth,  adaptation  of  trees  to  regional  de- 
mands. instruction  of  public  in  value  of  shade  and  sun-light, 
harmony  of  parking  program.  Extensions  along  country  roads. 

B'rds  and  animals.  Encourage  study  and  protection  among 
children  and  adults  of  native  birds  and  harmless  or  useful  ani- 
mals. Prizes  for  birdboxes,  for  essays  on  bird  and  animal  life, 
for  skill  in  car'ng  for  tame  and  wild  life. 

Anti  d:'rt  campaigns.  Mud-hole  days.  C’ean-up  days.  In- 
struction in  best  methods  of  preparing  garbage  for  scavengers. 
Public  sentiment  against  unsightly  prem’ses  and  vacant  lots. 
Removal  of  public  nuisances  on  public  or  private  premises,  en- 
forcement of  ordinances,  cu’tivation  of  public  sentiment. 

Ugliness  Surveys.  Cultivation  of  public  taste.  Lectures  on 
art  and  landscaping.  Co'lection  of  opinions  from  influential 
citizens.  Discrimination  against  ugly  architecture  in  public  and 
private  budding. 

Garbage  Disposal.  Methods  of  public  scavengers.  Effective 
town  ordinances.  Waste  paper  receptacles  on  street  corners, 
neat,  kept  pa’nted,  enough  to  meet  all  needs,  regulation  of  adver- 
tisements thereon.  Anti-litter  campaigns  among  children  with 
•prizes  for  work. 

Paint.  Campaigns  at  proper  season.  Cultivation  of  taste  in 


8u 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


colors.  Avoidance  of  offensive  combinations  on  neighboring 
houses.  Regular  painting  of  public  property,  telephone  poles, 
guide  posts,  band  stands.  Arousing  public  sentiment  against 
owners  of  dilapidated  buildings  and  fences. 

Fences.  Taste  in  construction.  Cultivation  of  sentiment  in 
matter  of  material,  quality  and  style.  Comparative  merits  of 
stone,  metal,  wood  terraces.  Observance  of  stock  laws. 

Impressing  the  visitor.  First  view  from  the  railway,  from 
the  auto  roads,  welcome  signs. 

Lawns.  Prizes  for  best.  Instruction  in  best  methods.  Or- 
dinances providing  free  water.  Anti-weed  campaigns.  Compell- 
ing owners  to  cleafi  up  and  mow  vacant  lots. 

Public  Health 

Cleanliness  campaigns.  Clean  food  exhibits.  House  clean- 
ing devices.  Clean  desks  at  school.  Clean-up  days.  Clean 
streets  and  alleys.  Public  baths.  Personal  cleanliness  urged  as 
a public  duty. 

Health  measures.  Instruction  of  children  and  adults  in  hy- 
giene. Systematic  exercise  for  old  and  young.  Health  “weeks”, 
health  parades,  health  exhibits,  health  scores  and  prizes. 

Contagion  and  epidemics.  Typhoid  prevention.  Repeated 
analysis  of  public  water  supply.  Instruction  of  public  charts 
and  posters  in  causes  and  prevention  of  all  contagious  or  epi- 
demic disease.  Prophylaxis  campaigns.  Clinics  for  treatment. 
Segregation  or  isolation  of  all  infectious  diseases.  Fighting  the 
white  plague,  the  red  plague. 

Pests  and  disease  carriers.  Suppressing  the  mosquito,  drain- 
ing pools,  oiling  stagnant  water,  removing  tin  cans  and  rubbish 
heaps,  cutting  away  weed  patches  and  swamps.  Swatting  the  fly, 
prizes  for  children  who  swat  most.  Inspection  of  breeding 
grounds  of  all  pests. 

Sanitation.  Strict  ordinances.  Ample  public  facilities  for  re- 
moving garbage  and  waste.  Drainage.  Suppression  or  regula- 
tion of  privies.  Inspection  of  sewage  appliances. 

The  child.  Regular  medical  inspection  in  schools.  School 
nurse.  Dental  examinations.  Free  clinics  for  children  of  school 
and  pre-school  age.  Public  nurse  for  instruction  of  mothers. 
Anti-cigaret  campaigns,  with  instruction  of  young  in  evils  of 
early  addiction.  Regular  and  strict  milk  inspection,  regulation 
of  supply  and  prices.  Hot  lunches  supplied  by  schools,  pro- 
vision for  poor  children. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


81 


Sex  Instruction.  Talks  to  young  mothers.  Prophylaxis 
clinics.  Systematic  instruction  of  adolescents  in  the  schools. 
Public  lectures  for  men  and  women.  Cultivation  of  athletics  and 
organized  recreation  for  old  and  young. 

Medical  Organization.  Encourage  physicians  to  leadership 
in  public  health.  Invite  specialists  and  urge  specialization  among 
physicians.  Promote  public  hospital,  or  free  service  under 
philanthropic  auspices.  Efficient  public  health  board.  Public 
nurse  or  nurses  for  schools  and  district.  Compulsory  medical 
examination  of  citizens  under  private  or  public  auspices.  Free 
clinics  and  dispensaries. 

Charities  and  Corrections 

Charity  organizations.  Unification  of  charity  agencies. 
Thoro  and  constant  survey.  Discovery  of  causes  of  poverty  and 
indigence. 

Distress  and  emergency  committees.  Red  Cross  for  local 
and  distant  needs.  Sympathetic  investigation  of  all  cases  of  need. 
Persistent  effort  to  remove  causes  and  prevent  accidents. 

Poverty  and  unemployment.  Employment  Bureau.  Con- 
structive measures  to  prevent  all  unemployment.  Vigorous  sup- 
pression of  loafing.  Cultivation  of  industries  suited  to  local 
needs.  Workmen’s  compensation  measures.  Adjustment  of 
wages  to  living  costs  and  standards.  Vocational  guidance  of 
adults  and  young. 

Crime.  Thoro  investigation  of  causes.  Positive  measures, 
versus  harsh  and  vindictive  suppression.  Sympathetic  reforma- 
tion measures  with  the  fallen.  Sanitary  prisons  and  jails.  Help 
for  paroled  or  discharged  prisoners.  Vacations  and  relief  for 
poor  mothers  and  overburdend  working  people. 

Public  Safety 

Fire  prevention.  _Fire  drills  at  schools.  Drills  of  citizens  for 
fighting  fires.  Ordinances  providing  for  fire  escapes.  House  in- 
spection. Cooperation  with  insurance  companies.  Fire  hydrants 
conveniently  located.  Instructions  to  citizens  in  use  of  fire 
alarms.  Safety  devices  in  motion  picture  theaters. 

First  aid.  Education  of  citizens  in  meeting  emergencies. 
A community  pulmotor  with  general  announcement  of  its  loca- 
tion. 

Safety  first.  Educational  campaign.  Organization  of  safety 
first  brigades.  Popular  instruction  in  purposes. 

Public  dangers.  Pollution  of  streams.  Pollution  of  wells  or 


82 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


public  water  supply.  Playing  in  unguarded  streets.  Reckless 
use  of  fire  alarms.  Spitting  in  public  places.  Inadequate  pro- 
vision for  teams  and  parking  autos.  Comprehensive  community 
preventive  measures.  Saftey-first  educational  films  to  be  had 
by  addressing  Firestone  Tire  & Rubber  Company,  Akron, 
Ohio,  and  National  Fire  Protection  Association,  87  Milk  Street, 
Boston,  Mass. 

Public  Service 

Water.  Adequate  supply.  Restriction  upon  use  of  private 
wells  or  cisterns.  Public  inspection  of  all  sources.  Prompt 
checking  of  incipient  typhoid  and  other  epidemics.  Public  drink- 
ing fountains,  sanitary  and  artistic. 

Light.  Public  ownership  and  operation.  Private  owner- 
ship and  public  regulation.  Efficient  and  economical  administra- 
tion. Location  of  street  lights. 

Streets.  Legible  and  tasty  street  sign  plates.  Unbroken 
pavements  and  wide  walks.  Adequate  parkings  for  autos  and 
teams.  Regulation  of  electric  signs.  Street  lighting.  . 

City  Hall.  Creditable  architecture  of  public  buildings. 
Economy  and  efficiency  in  arrangement  of  offices.  Combina- 
tion of  city  hall  and  community  house.  Public  ownership  of 
opera  house  or  public  auditorium. 

Numbering  houses.  Public  conveniences.  Observing  rules 
of  post  office  department. 

Public  Services.  City  ownership  and  regulation  of  river  or 
creek  banks,  of  vacant  lots  or  unused  lots  within  city  limits. 
Prevention  of  nuisances.  Prevention  of  irresponsible  monopolies 
and  exploitation.  Cooperation  with  health  service.  Free  legal 
advice  for  observance  of  city  ordinances.  Public  rest  rooms  for 
farmers’  wives  and  children.  Public  checking  depositories. 
Public  toilets.  Provision  for  care  of  children  of  mothers  shop- 
ping. Hitching  posts  and  racks.  Auto  parking  spaces.  Pre- 
vention of  auto  stealing. 

Municipal  enterprizes.  Green-house  or  botanical  gardens 
in  connection  with  pub’ic  parks.  Education  of  the  public  taste 
in  flowers  and  landscaping.  Municipal  piggery  for  disposal  of 
garbage. 

Social  Justice.  Equalization  of  taxes,  protection  of  weak 
and  incompetent.  Investigation  of  “raw  deals”  and  other  ex- 
ploitation. Provision  thru  city  attorney’s  office  and  otherwise 
for  free  legal  advice.  Free  employment  business.  Constant  at- 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  83 

tention  to  labor  conditions.  Announcement  of  openings  and  op- 
portunities. 

Civic  promotion.  Organization  of  Booster  clubs  or  other 
provision  for  advertising  and  advancing  general  interests  of  com- 
munity. 

Public  Information 

Library.  Vigorous  promotion  of  library  movement.  Or- 
• ganization  of  official  library  board.  Formation  of  library  com- 
mittees. Educating  the  public  to  back  up  liberal  support  by 
taxes.  Enlisting  public  subscriptions  in  money  and  books. 
Expert  salaried  leadership  in  library  staff.  Book  clubs:  each 
member  buys  a book — finally  given  to  library.  Book  entertain- 
ments: admission  ticket  a book  to  be  given  to  the  library. 
Literary  clubs  for  book  reviews  and  general  literary  information. 
Magazine  clubs, organized  under  library  auspices  or  otherwise, 
Participation  in  county  library  organization,  with  wagon  for 
rural  delivery,  or  parcels  post  system. 

Extension  courses  and  classes.  Extension  division  of  the 
University,  Teachers’  Colleges,  the  A.  & M.  College  and  its  agen- 
cies. Correspondence  study  through  state  institutions  or  other 
standard  correspondence  schools.  Organization  of  local  ex- 
tension classes.  Use  of  package  libraries.  Women’s  club  ser- 
vice. Visual  Education  program  promoted  by  Extension  Divi- 
sion of  University.  A.  & M.  College  program  for  gardens,  trees, 
shrubs,  home  economics. 

Lecture  and  lyceum  courses.  High-grade  entertainments. 
Educative  effects.  Systematic  provision. 

Debating  and  discussion  clubs,  in  literary  societies,  in  high 
schools,  in  adult  groups. 

Public  forum.  Discussion  of  local,  state,  national  and  world 
questions.  Systematic  organization  for  best  results.  Secure 
literature  from  the  National  Open  Forum  Bureau,  1244  Little 
Building,  Boston,  Mass. 

Community  surveys.  Blue-printing,  community  needs  and 
projects.  Constant  study  of  all  public  movements  in  their 
interrelations.  Stimulating  improvements.  Competition  by 
blocks  and  wards  and  social  groups.  General  survey  under  ex- 
pert leadership. 

The  Schools 

Buildings.  Modern  school  architecture,  providing  for  con- 
venience, health,  beauty,  efficiency,  growth  of  plant. 


84 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


School  equipment.  Apparatus  for  kindergarten  and  scien- 
tific study.  Sanitary  toilets  and  drinking  fountains.  Play  ground 
facilities,  articulated  with  community  recreational  program. 

School  administration.  Representative  and  efficient  school 
board.  Highly  qualified  superintendent,  principals,  and  teachers. 

Constant  introduction  of  new  ideals.  Raising  of  teachers’ 
standards.  Improvement  of  curriculum.  Efficient  discipline  thru 
self-development  of  pupils  and  worthy  leadership.  Keeping 
ahead  of  the  community  growth  with  additional  buildings  and 
equipment. 

The  needy  student.  Helps  for  earning  his  way._  Coopera- 
tion thru  homes  and  business  establishments.  Remunerative  em- 
ployment. Wholesome  and  healthful  surroundings. 

Vocational  guidance.  Introduction  of  modern  methods  in 
Junior  High  School.  “Find  yourself”  campaigns.  Lectures  on 
vocations.  Vocational  films  in  schools  and  at  public  theaters. 
Essay  contests  and  public  discussions  on  different  vocations. 

School  health.  Efficiency  in  ventilation  and  lighting.  Effi- 
cient school  nurse.  Watchfulness  against  wet  feet,  exposure, 
and  contagious  diseases.  School  house  conveniences.  School 
entertainments.  Cultivation  of  public  interests,  in  debates,  con- 
certs, dramatics.  Public  sentiment  in  favor  of  thoro  work  and 
high  standards. 

School  propaganda.  Public  sentiment  against  truancy.  Com- 
plete enrolment  of  school  age  population.  Keeping  public  in- 
formd  of  school  needs  in  support  of  liberal  taxation.  Public 
sentiment  against  leaving  school  premature’y  to  enter  vocations. 
Finding  work  for  graduates.  Public  interest  in  starting  the 
young  in  life. 

Social  Propaganda  in  schools.  Cultivation  of  thrift  thru 
savings  banks,  of  good  habits  thru  self-improvement  club,  of 
health  thru  supervised  play,  of  practical  use  of  school  studies 
such  as  geography,  history,  mathematical  branches,  penmanship, 
stenography,  and  typewriting. 

Recreation 

Community  Program.  Salaried  superintendent,  and  other 
expert  leadership.  System  of  public  play-grounds  for  children 
and  adults.  Community  organization  of  entertainments,  cele- 
brations, lectures,  pageants,  ath’etic  meets  and  athletic  leagues. 

Athletics.  A community  stadium.  Numerous  play  grounds. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


85 


Systematic  training.  A community  program.  Play  grounds. 
Provision  for  baseball,  volley  ball,  tennis,  basket  ball,  foot-ball, 
and  varied  track  exercises.  Intercommunity  play.  Field  meets, 
games,  tournaments,  regatta  in  conjunction  with  neighboring 
communities. 

Community  play  days.  Hallowe’en  and  other  popular  cele- 
brations, carnivals,  holidays,  community  romps,  and  outings. 
Seasonal  picnics.  “Go  a-fishing”  days. 

Amusements.  Cement  skating  rinks.  Wading  pools.  Swim- 
ming pools.  Motion  pictures.  Boating  races.  Swimming  races. 
Masquerades  and  burlesques. 

Community  Celebrations.  Fourth-of-July.  Thanksgiving. 
Christmas  pageant  and  . Christmas  trees.  Easter,  Naturaliza- 
tion ceremonies.  Monthly  birthday  ceremonies.  Local  anni- 
versaries. 

Community  music.  Band-stand.  Band  instruction.  Chorus 
organization.  Orchestra.  Concerts  with  public  backing.  Ex- 
pert salaried  trainers^  and  conductors.  Public  or  subscription 
support  for  musical  organizations.  Organizations  for  community 
singing,  by  blocks  or  wards  or  other  areas.  Encouragement  of 
professional  musicians  to  establish  studios  in  the  community. 

Leisure  time.  Guarantee  of  eight-hour  day  in  industry.  Con- 
stant study  of  community  responsibility  for  use  of  leisure. 
Socia’izing  and  making  educative  the  recreational  program. 

Old  and  young.  Old  folks’s  play.  Father-and-son  contests 
and  games.  Mother-and-daughter  contests  and  games.  Keep- 
ing young  with  the  young. 

Child  Welfare.  See  Schools  and  Recreation. 

Children’s  clubs.  Squirrel  (thrift)  clubs  to  train  in  accu- 
mulating property,  bank  accounts,  proper  care  of  home  and 
school  furniture  and  equipment  and  personal  possessions.  Story 
hours  and  reading  groups.  “Do  better”  clubs  in  kindness,  cour- 
tesy, cleanliness,  neatness,  energy,  industry,  self-control.  Boy 
scouts,  girl  scouts,  camp  fire  girls’  organization.  Enlisting 
qualified  leadership.  Financial  support. 

Hikes  and  excursions.  Provision  thru  club  organization  or 
otherwise  with  qualified  leaders  for  study  of  plants,  birds,  in- 
sects, and  enjoyment  of  rural  scenery.  Campus  and  outings. 
Conserving  child  health. 

Children’s  fairs.  Formation  of  habits  of  industry.  En- 
couragement of  production. 


86 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


Children’s  clothing.  Mothers’  organizations  to  insure  chaste 
style,  health,  taste,  convenience,  and  beauty  in  children’s  apparel. 

CITIZENSHIP 

Enrolment  for  study  and  proficient  vocational  and  com- 
munity service.  Organized  classes.  Cultivation  of  industrial 
initiative. 

Civil  responsibilly.  Faithful  exercise  or  franchise.  Train- 
ing. for  intelligent  voting.  Cultivating  lofty  public  ideals. 
Resistance  to  partisan  politics. 

Civil  administration.  Business  management  of  city  affairs. 
City  management.  Publicity.  Corruption  among  public  offi- 
cials. Honor  for  efficiency  and  probity. 

Patriotism.  A flag  at  every  school.  In  the  school  rooms. 
On  the  grounds.  A civic  flag  or  emblem.  Town  display  of 
national  emblem.  Town  loyalty.  Popular  instruction.  Popular 
discussion  of  town  needs  and  ideals. 

Civic  intelligence.  Know  where  the  taxes  go.  Prevent 
waste.  Encourage  wise  expenditure.  Win  support  for  good 
policies.  Organize  public  opinion.  Promote  use  of  citizenship 
manual  (if  one  is  publisht.)  Make  knockers  unpopular.  Meet 
criticisms  squarely. 

Enlistment  of  young.  Boys’  and  girls’  civic  clubs.  Systema- 
tic training  for  citizenship.  Thoro  courses  in  economics  and 
civics  in  high  school.  Look  after  school  graduates,  making  them 
efficient  producers  and  intelligent  contributers  to  the  common 
life. 

Strangers.  Organized  welcome.  Public  Sentiment  for 
courteous  treatment.  Promote  efficient  hotel  accomodations. 
Insist  on  clean  amusements  and  high  grade  theaters  for  their 
entertainment. 

Law  and  order.  Teach  respect  for  law  by  example  of  citi- 
zens and  intehigent  legislation.  Prompt  removal  of  ineffective 
laws  from  statute  books. 

Appreciation  of  public  service.  Ready  accord  of  public 
honors.  Community  banquet.  Celebration  of  notable  achieve- 
ments of  influential  citizens  in  history  and  recent  times. 

Town  maps.  Insure  acquaintance  of  all  with  their  own  town. 
Enlist  school  children  to  draw  maps  and  make  models,  insuring 
artistic  effect.  Location  of  public  institutions  and  homes.  En- 
courage ownership  of  homes  by  marking  lots  as  ownd,  rented, 
clear  or  mortgaged. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION 


87 


Social  surveys.  Secure  expert  leadership.  Apply  to  Ex- 
tension Division  of  University  for  plans  and  information.  Catch 
evils  when  they  start.  Keep  ahead  of  the  game. 

Taxation.  Efficient  public  administration.  Sympathetic  and 
intelligent  citizenship  committees.  Thoro  study  of  assessment 
bases  and  methods.  “Pitiless  publicity.”  Publication  of  values, 
tax  assessments,  and  payments. 

Community  spirit.  Civic  conferences  on  public  needs. 
Cultivation  of  public  opinion.  Formation  of  committees  on  com- 
munity aims,  new  policies,  inter-community  relations.  Invite 
speakers  from  other  towns  making  notable  successes.  Be  al- 
ways willing  to  learn  from  others.  Town  pageants,  depicting 
town  history,  town  characters,  and  rendering  honor  to  whom 
honor  is  due.  Arbitration  and  conciliation  committees  providing 
official  peace-makers.  Public  sentiment  against  feuds,  factions, 
and  embitterd  competition.  Concerted  emphasis  upon  common 
interests,  common  needs  and  common  joys. 

HOME  IMPROVEMENTS 

Home  life.  High  ideals  of  parenthood.  Cordial  relations  be- 
tween parent  and  child.  Reduction  of  outside  affairs  and  diver- 
sions. Attractive  evening  at  home. 

Protection  of  hemes.  Concerted  effort  to  withstand  foes  of 
home  life.  Resistance  to  competition  drawing  child  and  parent 
from  home.  Study  of  home  games,  entertainments  and  other 
amusements. 

Adjustments  to  changed  conditions.  Meeting  high  cost  of 
living  comradery  as  against  arbitrary  authority. 

Social  Life.  Intelligent  backing  for  great  social  movements. 
Coordination  of  social  agencies,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  Boy 
scouts,  Camp  Fire  Girls.  King’s  Daughters. 

Religion.  Interchurch  relations.  Interchurch  cooperative 
movements.  Interchurch  social  programs.  Reduction  of  waste 
and  duplication  in  church  organizations.  The  religious  spirit  and 
motive  in  community  life. 

Community  questions.  Mass  meetings.  Organizing  public 
sentiment.  Arousing  interest  in  worthy  causes.  Communiy 
backing  for  projects  in  service  of  common  good. 

Organizing  good  will.  Care  of  the  poor.  Public  coal  yards. 
Defense  against  pawn-shop  and  loan  sharks.  Efficient  loan 
policies.  Care  of  the  aged.  Old  Folks’  homes.  Mothers’  day 
celebrations.  Care  of  defectives.  Christmas  time  celebrations. 


38 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


Merry  Christmas  banners  in  all  languages  spoken  in  community. 
Good  will  celebations.  Community  greetings.  Community  festi- 
vals. Camping  parties.  Singings.  Festivities. 

Social  restraints.  Organized  public  opinion  against  social 
abuses.  Good  example  of  influential  citizens  in  obeying  laws. 
Organized  methods  of  expressing  disapproval.  Support  of  law 
against  private  vindictiveness.  Quelling  feuds.  Volunteer  or- 
ganizations such  as  golf  clubs,  country  clubs,  singing  clubs,  spe- 
cial object  clubs,  sunshine  clubs. 


APPENDIX  B 

SUGGESTED  CONSTITUTION  FOR  A COMMUNITY 
COUNCIL 

ARTICLE  I. 

Object  and  Procedure 

The  Council  is  not  a legislative  nor  an  administrative,  but 
an  advisory  body.  Its  sole  aim  is  to  harmonize,  to  persuade,  to 
find  common  ground,  and  to  bring  about  effective  cooperation 
in  the  community.  To  this  end,  it  should,  so  far  as  possible, 
secure  the  unanimous  agreement  of  its  members  so  that  it  may 
go  before  the  community  as  a unit. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Membership 

Sec.  1.  The  first  members  of  the  Council  shall  be  nominated 
by  the  Director  of  the  Community  Institute  under  the  auspices 
of  the  University  of  Oklahoma  and  they  shall  nominate  for  the 
remainder  of  the  Council  such  number  as  they  may  deem  best 
at  the  time.  These  nominations  shall  be  submitted  to  the  audi- 
ence at  a meeting  of  the  Institute  above  named,  for  their  ap- 
proval. 

Sec.  2.  These  members  shall  hold  their  office  continuously, 
subject  to  section  3. 

Sec.  3.  Vacancies:-  Members  may  automatically  forfeit 
membership  in  the  Council  by  (1)  absence  or  lack  of  interest  in 
its  work;  (2)  By  resignation;  (3)  By  continued  refusal  to  work 
in  harmony  with  the  majority  of  the  Council;  (4)  By  removal 
from  the  community. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  89 

ARTICLE  IIL 

Officers  and  Their  Duties 

Sec.  1.  The  officers  of  the  Council  shall  be  a President, 
Vice-President,  Secretary-Treasurer,  and  Executive  Committee. 
They  shall  be  elected  at  the  annual  meeting. 

Sec.  2.  The  duties  of  these  officers  shall  be  such  as  usually 
appertain  to  these  offices. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Amendments 

At  least  two  weeks’  notice  must  be  given  before  a proposed 
amendment  may  be  voted  upon.  This  provision  may  be  sus- 
pended by  unanimous  vote  of  those  present. 

BY-LAWS 

1.  The  annual  meeting  of  this  Council  shall  be  held  on  the 

second of Regular  meetings  shall  be  held  on 

m of  each at P.  M.  Special  meet- 
ings may  be  ca’led  at  any  time  by  the  president  (or,  in  his  ab- 
sence by  the  vice-president)  or  by  a majority  of  the  Executive 
Committee. 

2.  The  standing  committees  of  the  Council  shall  be  the 
Executive  Committee  of  five,  and  committees  on  Public  Health, 
Recreation,  Public  Improvements,  Finance,  and  Domestic  Rela- 
tions and  such  special  committees  as  may  be  deemed  necessary 
for  special  service,  all  appointed  by  the  President  unless  other- 
wise voted. 

3.  Absence  from  three-fourths  of  the  meetings  for  six 
months  sha’l  be  deemd  a resignation,  but  such  a member  may 
be  reinstated  by  3-4  vote  before  the  vacancy  is  filld,  on  recom- 
mendation of  the  Executive  Committee. 

4.  Controversies  threatening  the  division  of  the  Council 
shall  be  submitted  to  arbitration  by  members  of  councils  of  other 
communities  and  the  Institute  staff  of  the  University  of  Okla- 
homa. Refusal  to  accept  such  decision  shall  automatically  re- 
move a member,  under  Art.  II,  Sect.  3,  Statement  3. 

5.  These  By-Laws  may  be  amended  at  any  meeting  by  a 
three-fourths  vote  of  the  members  present. 


90 


THEiUNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

APPENDIX  C 


Enrollment  Blank  for  Two-Fold  Citizenship 


COMMUNITY  INSTITUTE— EXTENSION  DIVISION 
UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 

For  Better  Citizenship 

Name 


Address 

Date i_l 

I.  To  make  me  more  proficient  in  my  business,  profession, 
home-making  or  other  vocation,  I intend  systematically  to  study 

For  this  purpose  I intend  to  seek  information  as  follows: 

Magazines  or  papers  specializing  on 

Books  and  pamphlets  on 

Correspondence  courses  of  instruction  in ^ 


II.  To  make  me  more  efficient  in  community  service  I in- 
tend to  study,  and,  as  I have  opportunity,  to  unite  with  fellow- 
citizens  in  furthering. 

For  this  purpose  I intend  to  seek  information  as  follows: 

Magazines  or  papers  specializing  on 

Books  and  pamphlets  on 

Correspondence  courses  of  instruction  in 


APPENDIX  D 

COPY  OF  AGREEMENT  FOR  COMMUNITY  INSTITUTE 

THIS  AGREEMENT,  entered  into  between  the  University 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  91 

of  Oklahoma,  through  its  Division  of  Extension  and  Department 

of  Community  Institutes,  and, 

parties  of  the  second  part. 

Ik  WITNESSETH:  That  the  party  of  the  first  part,  and  its 

cooperating  agencies,  agrees  to  co-operate  with  the  parties  of 
the  second  part  to  conduct  a Community  Institute,  for  a period  of 
^ two  to  three  days,  furnishing  the  various  speakers,  director  and 

advertising  matter,  necessary  to  conduct  said  institute. 

The  parties  of  the  second  part  agree  to  furnish  the  building 
or  buildings  necessary  for  the  conduct  of  the  institute,  secure 
local  publicity,  distribute  and  post  advertising  matter  and  pro- 
vide heat  and  janitor  service,  establish  a temporary  committee 
to  be  known  as  the  Community  Council,  consisting  of  at  least  ten 
persons  from  representative  groups,  so  far  as  possible. 

The  parties  of  the  second  part  also  agree  to  pay  as  part  of 

the  expense  of  said  institute  the  sum  of , as  an 

evidence  of  their  interest  and  good  faith  in  the  movement  and 

that  said shall  be  paid  to  the  director,  or  his 

duly  authorized  representative,  before  the  close  of  said  institute. 
IN  WITNESS  WHEREOF,  the  University  of  Oklahoma, 

and  parties  of  second  part  have  this,  the  day of 19__ 

subscribed.  University  of  Oklahoma. 


By 


CONTENTS 


FOREWORD  2 

COMMUNITY  EXTENSION _ 3 

Introduction.  The  University. 

COMMUNITY  INSTITUTES 3 

Special  bulletin.  Range  of  Subjects  Considered. 

Aim  of  Institutes.  After  and  Beyond  the  Institute. 

EACH  COMMUNITY  UNIQUE 5 

COMMUNITY  COUNCIL _ 6 

Results  not  Theories.  Limitations  and  Perils. 


A Sounder  Philosophy.  Eternal  Vigilance  and  Progress. 
Outstanding  Features.  All  Elements  represented. 
Inspiration,  not  Administration.  Avoid  Factionalism. 
Quick  Action.  Members,  how  Elected.  Is  a Community 
Council  Necessary? 


COMMUNITY  FORUM  12 

How  to  Organize.  Community  Forum  and  Community 
Council. 

COMMUNITY  LIBRARY 15 

Means  and  Measures.  ’ Housing.  Administration. 
Museum. 

INTELLIGENT  CITIZENSHIP  18 

Correspondence  Courses.  Self-directed  Education. 
Studying  for  Citizenship.  Enrolment  for  Intelligent 
Citizenship. 

CIVIC  CLUBS  22 

MANUAL  OF  CITIZENSHIP 23 

Character  and  Content.  Authorship  and  Publication. 
Uses  of  the  Book. 

CITY  AND  TOWN  PLANNING 25 

Standard  and  Unique  Plans.  Expert  Designing.  Real 
Estate  Promotions.  Checker-board  vs.  Nature’s  Sym- 
metry. Sources  of  Information. 

TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 29 


Partnership  in  Institutions.  Merchandizing.  Varied 
Town  Industries.  School  and  Church.  Community 
Housekeeping  in  Towns. 


COMMUNITY  EXTENSION  93 

THE  CIVIL  ORGANIZATION— CITY  MANAGER 36 

Commission  Plan  Modified.  The  Place  of  the  City 
Manager.  The  City  Manager  and  Small  Centers.  The 
City  Manager  and  Democracy.  The  Manager  and  Poli- 
tics. Studying  the  Problem. 

PUBLIC  HEALTH  42 

In  the  Schools.  Volunteer  Support.  Standardized  Plans. 
Public  Hospitals.  Studying  the  Business. 

RECREATION  AND  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 46 

The  Peril  of  Drudgery.  The  Peril  of  Unoccupied  Crea- 
tion and  Education.  Information  and  Standards. 

MUSIC  — 50 


The  Individual  Artist  and  the  Community.  Community 


Backing  for  Musical  Organizations.  All  Taking  Part. 
Providing  Competent  Teachers.  Information  and  En- 
couragement. 

CELEBRATION  OF  NATIONAL  AND  LOCAL 

FESTIVALS  54 

Community  Leadership.  Pageants. 

MOTION  PICTURES  56 

Commercial  Significance.  Community  Control.  Educa- 
tional Value.  A Field  of  Study  and  Public  Service. 

THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 59 

Backing  the  Community  with  Community  Resources. 
Impartial  Leadership.  The  Field  of  the  Chamber.  The 
Community’s  Economic  Base.  Methods  and  Programs. 

THE  COMMUNITY  CENTER 62 

Memorial  Buildings.  Equipment  thru  Public  Funds. 
Civic  Center — Grouping  of  Public  Buildings.  Plan  of 
Community  Center. 

GARDENS  AND  PARKS- 66 

An.  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Community  Pro- 
gram. Enlisting  the  Children  and  the  Idle. 

THE  SCHOOL 68 

Great  and  Varied  Problems.  Convincing  the  Public. 
Parents’  and  Teachers’  Associations.  The  University 
and  the  Schools. 

THE  CHURCHES  -71 

The  Federation  of  Churches.  Community  Churches. 
Religion  and  the  Community. 

FRATERNAL  ORDERS,  MUTUAL  BENEFIT  ASSO- 


94  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OKLAHOMA 


CIATIONS  AND  CLUBS 73 

THE  INDIVIDUAL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 75 

CONCLUDING  REMARK 76 

APPENDICES 

APPENDIX  A.  COMMUNITY  ACTIVITIES. 77 


Town  and  Country.  Business.  City  Beautiful.  Public 
Health,  Charities  and  Correction.  Public  Safety.  Public 
Service.  Public  Information.  The  Schools.  Recrea- 
tion. Child  Welfare.  Citizenship.  Home  Improvements. 
Social  Life. 

APPENDIX  B.  SUGGESTED  CONSTITUTION  FOR  A 


COMMUNITY  COUNCIL  88 

APPENDIX  C.  ENROLMENT  BLANK  FOR  TWO- 
FOLD CITIZENSHIP  90 

APPENDIX  D.  COPY  OF  AGREEMENT  FOR  COM- 
MUNITY INSTITUTE  90 


